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Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



RHETORIC ^ 



AS AN 



ART OF PERSUASION, 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A LAWYER. 



By AN OLD LAWYER. 

•: — , 



m,ss-(£ l 



DES MOINES, IOWA: 

Mills & Company, Law Publishers. 

1880. 









Entebed Accobding to Act of Congbess, 
In the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty. 

By MILLS & COMPANY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, . 
at Washington. 



MILLS & COMPANY, 

STEBEOTYPEBS AND PBINTEBS, 

DES MOINES. 



To Students of Law, 

AND OTHER YOUNG GENTLEMEN WHOSE TASTE MAY 
INCLINE THEM TO LEARN SOMETHING CON- 
CERNING THE ART OF DEBATE 
AND PUBLIC SPEAKING, 

THIS ESSAY IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 
Keokuk, Iowa, a. d. 1880. 



PREFACE. 



RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION IN ITS APPLICA- 
TION TO FORENSIC DISCUSSIONS SPECIALLY, AND TO 
PUBLIC SPEAKING GENERALLY, FROM THE STAND- 
POINT OF A LAWYER. 

Having been engaged in the almost constant study of 
the law and kindred subjects since the autumn of 1835, 
and in the practice of the law since the spring of 1S39, it 
occurred to me several years ago, that my long experience 
at the bar might perhaps enable me to write something of 
practical utility and benefit not only to students of law 
and younger members of the legal fraternity, but also to 
other young gentlemen of literary tendencies and honor- 
able ambition. 

Eeflecting upon a theme to write upon, I wondered at 
the fact that there are so many gentlemen of liberal edu- 
cation and good reasoning capacity, who yet cannot ex- 
press themselves in public on the most trite subject with- 
out stammering and being abashed ; and, especially, how 
many lawyers there are, who, though learned and skilled 
in the principles and precepts of law, are indifferent as 
advocates ; and believing thafc acuteness in argument, and 
eloquence in speech, are, as a general rule, rather ac- 
quired powers than natural gifts, it occurred to me that 
if I could write with credit on any subject at all, I could 
use my pen to no greater advantage than to express my 
ideas briefly, but generally, concerning public speeches, 
whether at the bar or elsewhere; to instruct the student 



PREFACE. 

of oratory with the statement of a few plain and practi- 
cal rules,- which if properly noted and observed, will the 
most speedily conduct him successfully to the goal of his 
ambition. 

Accordingly in the spring of A. D. 1877, 1 embraced the 
opportunity to withdraw for a short period from profes- 
sional and other business engagements, and wrote the 
essay, following, to-wit : 

" Rhetoric as an art of persuasion in its application to 
forensic discussions specially, and to public speaking gen- 
erally, from the standpoint of a lawyer." 

Although the state of Ohio is now justly distinguished 
for the efficiency of its common school system, and its 
many seminaries for instruction in the higher depart- 
ments of literature, yet, when I resided there in my school- 
boy days, the system of common schools had not been 
adopted, and our means of education were very limited, 
being such only as could be got at private schools, which 
were usually taught in log buildings, and seldom longer 
than during the winter months of the year. Little or no 
attention was given by our teachers of those days to 
either elocution or rhetoric ; and, indeed, I have no recol- 
lection of ever having received a lesson or heard a lecture 
in reference to tones and modulations of voice, or of the 
arrangement of words and sentences into a discourse or 
argument, until after I had passed into the years of man- 
hood. 

Indeed, in those days, in the section of country referred 
to, the speaking of the pulpit (where the preacher, with 
white neck-tie, stood erect in his dress of black, and read 
his sermon in monotonous tones from a manuscript be- 
fore him, with one arm hanging at his side, and the other 
engaged in turning over sheets of paper), was considered 
the par excellence of attitude, gesticulation, and oratory; 
and an impassioned speaker, especially if he indulged in 



PREFACE. 7 

much gesticulation, however graceful and natural it might 
be, would hardly have been tolerated. 

The consequence was, that when I came to the bar, I 
was very deficient in the art of public speaking, and es- 
pecially so in elocution, or mode of utterance with proper 
gestures ; defects which still exist in me of which I am 
often painfully impressed. And I soon saw that if a 
lawyer would secure good retainers and win popular ap- 
plause, it is not sufficient for him to be learned in the ele- 
ments and practice of his profession, and to be enabled to 
explain the difference between the subject and predicate 
of a legal proposition; but he must also be enabled to 
advocate his client's cause in " thoughts that breathe, and 
words that burn." 

I was then too far advanced in life, besides being too 
much hampered with business affairs, to attempt the 
study of elocution, which requires much practice and the 
aid of a competent teacher; but I still thought I saw 
some hope of my success at the bar, if I made a specialty 
of the study of rhetoric, and accordingly I devoted such 
time to its study as I could spare from my professional 
and other engagements during the first several years after 
my admission to the bar. I studied many American and 
English authors on the subject of rhetoric, but found 
nothing in them to compare in usefulness and thorough- 
ness of instruction to Quintillian's Institutes of Oratory. 
He, it appears to me, has left nothing unsaid on the sub- 
ject of rhetoric which can be profitable to study or know. 
His work is quite extensive, and it requires months of 
severe study to fully understand and appreciate it; but 
whoever will undergo the necessary labor, will find the 
rules and principles there laid down a never-ending source 
of both pleasure and profit. 

Pope in his " Essay on Criticism," says : 

u In grave Quintillian's copious works we find 
The justest rules and clearest method joined." 



8 PREFACE. 

For illustration of ideas and precepts, numerous quota- 
tions have been introduced into the essay. Quotations in 
frequent use, and the authors of which are supposed .to be 
generally known, are indicated simply by quotation marks ; 
but where supposed to be not generally known, the names 
of the authors are stated. 

To aid the memory in its recollection of details, and 
also for advantage of reference, the essay is divided and 
subdivided into chapters and sections. 

DANIEL F. MILLER, Sr. 
Keoktjk, Iowa, A. D. 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface, -------5 

CHAPTER I. 
What Rhetoric is, - - - - - 11 

CHAPTER II. 
Divisions of a Speech, - - - - - 13 

Section 1. 
Exordium, ------ 13 

Section 2. 
Statement of the case, - - - - - 23 

Section 3. 
Argument, ------ 40 

Section 4. 
Peroration, -.-.-- 79 



10 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER III. 



Figures of Speech, 
Metonomy, - 
Syneodoche, 
Exclamation, 
Comparison, 
Metaphor, - 
Allegory, 
Hyperbole, - 
Rhetorical dialogue, 
Interrogation, 
Personification, 
Vision, 
^Apostrophe, 
Antithesis, - 
Epimone, 
Irony, 
Climax, 



PAGE. 

85 

• S6 

87 

- 87 

8S 

93 

05 

99 

100 

124 

124 

134 

136 

140 

146 

149 

152 



CHAPTER IV. 

General Reflections on speech delivery, natural 
and artificial language, and application - - 157 



CHAPTER V. 
Concluding Remarks, - 



170 



RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 



CHAPTER I. 



WHAT RHETORIC IS. 

Rhetoric in its most comprehensive sense, 
is, simply, the art of persuasion, whether by 
written or printed compositions, by private 
conversations, or by public speeches; but in 
its most common signification, it is the art 
of persuasion by public speaking, commonly 
called oratory. 

Rhetoric and logic are sometimes con- 
founded in idea, but they are not the same 
in signification in all regards. 

Logic in its strict meaning is simply the 
art of thinking and reasoning correctly. Its 
purpose is to direct the understanding cor- 
rectly "in its investigation of truth, and 
the communication of it to others." But it 
aims not to influence the will, except so far 



12 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

as truth in its simple and unadorned garb 
can accomplish that purpose. The leading 
idea of logic is truth for its own sake, and 
the influencing of the will is only one of its 
incidents. 

But the chief purpose of rhetoric is to in- 
fluence the will, and hence logic is neces- 
sarily a part of rhetoric, since a speech 
which is not more or less supported by rea- 
soning, is simple rhapsody. 

Ehetoric arranges arguments in the mode 
best calculated to make impression, and in- 
structs how to avoid the devices of the sophist; 
it calls to its aid the glow of imagination, 
the brilliancy of wit, the shading of sympa- 
thy, the flowers of poetry, the graces of elo- 
cution or delivery, and the figures of speech. 
In a word it (rhetoric) considers man an 
emotional as well as rational being, and ad- 
dresses him accordingly. In the terse lan- 
guage of Kev. J. G.Wilson, "Conversation is 
not oratory; lecturing is not oratory; the 
orator is the effective persuasive speaker. 
Eloquence is logic set on fire; it quickens 
the emotions, it incites the sensibilities, it 
prompts the will to action." 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 13 



CHAPTER II. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 

Order and system are God's first law of 
nature for the government of the material 
universe, and every one who has devoted 
much time to literary pursuits, knows, that 
order and system are equally essential for the 
successful pursuit of knowledge, and that 
without them, the effort will be barren of 
results. Oratory is no exception to these 
rules, and the simplest order and division of 
a speech by which it may be most readily 
and successfully attained, is, into 1st. Exor- 
dium, 2nd. Statement of the case, 3rd. Argu- 
ment (consisting of confirmation and confu- 
tation), and 4th. Peroration. 

Section 1. 

Exordium. 

The Exordium is the commencement of 
the speech ; it is the self introduction of the 
speaker to the audience, and its purpose is 



14 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

to conciliate them, and prepare their minds 
to give the cause he advocates, if not a 
favorable, at least an impartial hearing. 
The exordium can be seldom dispensed with 
to advantage, since if it is judiciously han- 
dled, it not only secures an impartial recep- 
tion from the hearers, but also constitutes 
an embellishment of what is to follow, the 
same as a stately building shows to more 
architectural advantage, with a properly ad- 
justed portico at its front external opening 
or entrance. 

When the audience is laboring under a 
high pressure of mental excitement, and 
especially if in known sympathy with the 
speaker, he may often with advantage omit 
the exordium altogether, as Cicero did in his 
famous speech against Cataline, commenc- 
ing; "How far, ! Cataline ! wilt thou abuse 
our patience? How long shall thy frantic 
fury baffle the ends of justice? " 

A proper respect for the audience requires 
that the exordium should, as a general rule, 
be spoken in a low, modest, and subdued 
tone of voice; but common sense and expe- 
rience are the only true guides of what should 
constitute the subject-matter of the exor- 
dium. If the audience is favorably disposed, 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 15 

a few words generally suffice for an exordium ; 
but if otherwise, a longer introduction of 
conciliatory ideas and expressions is neces- 
sary. 

Able logicians, so far as dry argument is 
concerned, often fail as advocates and popu- 
lar speakers, because of not approaching 
their hearers with a becoming introduction; 
while others with less logical ability, but 
more practical sense, by proper words of 
conciliation at the start, carry off the palm 
of victory. 

And although the exordium is the com- 
mencement of the speech, it should seldom 
if ever be prepared until the other parts of 
the address are fully matured and settled 
upon. As in building a house the portico is 
the last thing to be erected, and must be 
constructed to bear a proper relation to the 
other parts of the main edifice, so the exor- 
dium though placed at the front of the 
speech, cannot be judiciously prepared until 
what is to follow shall be fully matured and 
known. In hearing a set speech the edu- 
cated mind can generally tell before the ad- 
dress is half through whether the exordium 
is prepared first or last; and if first, in nine 
cases out of ten there will be such an incon- 



16 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

gruity in the several parts of the discourse, 
that it will be pronounced a failure. On 
several occasions I have heard speakers of con- 
siderable celebrity commence with lengthy 
and stately exordiums, and follow with ar- 
guments which had hardly a good or solid 
idea in them. A grandiloquent or flashy 
opening, followed by a dearth of argument, 
is always offensive to the intelligent ear, and 
should be avoided. 

Cicero was particularly careful in the pre- 
paration of his exordiums. And it would «be 
well for the student of oratory to study him 
in this regard with special attention. His 
plan, usually, was first to mature his argu- 
ment, and then prepare the exordium, though 
he sometimes commenced without an exor- 
dium, as in his speech against Cataline, here- 
tofore referred to, where the excitement of 
the occasion engaged him in debate, without 
regard to the formal parts of oratory. 

Whoever is able to speak at all in public, 
and will go to the trouble of studying the 
exordiums of the eminent orators of modern 
and ancient times, will hardly ever fail when 
he arises to address an audience, in saying 
such things in his opening remarks as will 
secure him a favorable hearing. Orators are 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 17 

not born such, but made by severe study; 
and though the two great orators of anti- 
quity (Cicero and Demosthenes) were each 
unquestionably endowed with good natural 
genius, yet it was their application and study 
of the masters who preceded them, united 
with their gifts of nature, which enabled them 
to reach the pinnacle of oratorical character 
and fame. The world is full of instances 
where men of but moderate intellectual 
endowments, have by study and application 
excelled others in the field of oratory, whose 
natural genius was indisputable, but who 
were too idle to properly improve the facul- 
ties with which God had blessed them. 

EXAMPLES OF EXORDIUM. 

American Declaration of Independence. 

The Declaration of Independence contains 

in its first paragraph a most pertinent and 

elegantly expressed exordium; thus: 

"When in the course of human events, it becomes nec- 
essary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
have connected them with another, and to assume among 
the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to 
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle 
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind re- 
quires that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation." 
2 



18 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Next follows a specification of the causes 
and justification of separation, which in 
rhetorical idea, is, simply, a a statement of 
the case," (which will be explained hereafter) 
commencing: "We hold these truths to be 
self-evident," etc., etc. 

CICERO. 

During the rule and proscription of Sylla 
when great personal danger followed any 
opposition to the wishes or measures of that 
cruel and relentless tyrant, one of his freed- 
men, and a favorite, too, of the tyrant, wish- 
ing to get possession of a farm owned by one 
Roscius, fabricated against him the charge 
that he had been guilty of parricide, and 
not only prosecuted him for that alleged 
crime, but, also, even produced a witness 
who swore, though falsel} 7 , to the truth of 
the allegation. The case was tried to judges, 
there being no jury trial known to Roman 
jurisprudence, and had Roscius been con- 
victed, his life would have been sacrificed, 
and his property would have been seques- 
trated for the benefit of his accuser. 

Roscius applied for assistance to old and 
experienced advocates, but who declined to 
defend him for fear of the displeasure of 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 19 

Sylla, and as a last resort he applied to Cic- 
ero, who nobly undertook his defense and 
defended him, and by his eloquence procured 
an acquittal. 

This defense was made soon after Cicero 
first appeared as a pleader of causes in law 
proceedings, and it is alleged that the speech 
from which the following example of exor- 
dium is taken, was the first ever made by 
him in a criminal proceeding: 

" I imagine that you, judges, are marveling why it is 
that when so many most eminent orators and most noble 
men, are sitting still, I, above all others, should get up, 
who neither for age, nor for ability, nor for influence, am 
to be compared with those who are sitting still. For all 
these men whom you see present at this trial, think that 
a man ought to be defended against an injury contrived 
against him by unrivaled wickedness; but through the 
sad state of the times they do not dare to defend him 
themselves. So it comes to pass they are present here be- 
cause they are attending to their business, but they are 
silent because they are afraid of danger. What then? 
Am I the boldest of all these men ? By no means. Am 
I then so much more attentive to my duties than the rest? 
I am not so covetous of even that praise, as to wish to 
rob others of it. What is it then which lias impelled me 
beyond all the rest to undertake the cause of Roscius ? 
Because if any one of those men, men of the greatest 
weight and dignity, whom you see present, had spoken, 
had said one word about public affairs, as must be done in 
this cause, he would be thought to have said much more 
than he really had said; but if I should say all the things 



20 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

which must be said, with ever so much freedom, yet my 
speech will never go forth, or be diffused among the peo- 
ple in the same manner. Secondly, because anything said 
by the others cancot be obscure, because of their nobility 
and dignity, and cannot be excused as being spoken care- 
lessly, on account of their age and prudence ; but if I say 
anything with too much freedom, it may either be alto- 
gether concealed, because I have not yet mixed in public 
affairs, or pardoned on account of my youth; although 
not only the method of pardoning, but even the habit of 
examining into the truth is now eradicated from the state- 
There is this reason, also, that perhaps the request to un- 
dertake this cause was made to the others so that they 
thought they could comply or refuse without prejudice to 
their duty. * * * On these accounts I have stood 
forward as the advocate in this cause, not as being the 
one selected who could plead with the greatest ability, but 
as the one left of the whole body who could do so with 
the least danger." 

HENRY CLAY. 

Henry Clay usually introduced his speeches 
with stately and beautifully expressed exor- 
diums. In 1842 he introduced into the Sen- 
ate of the United States, several resolutions 
relative to the revenue, public lands, tariff, 
etc., as indicative of "A true public policy" ; 
and in his speech advocating them, com- 
menced as follows: 

"Mr. President: The resolutions which are to form 
the subject of the present discussion, are of the greatest im- 
portance, involving interests of the highest character, and 
a system of policy, which in my opinion, lies at the bot- 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 21 

torn of any restoration of the prosperity of the country. 
In discussing them, I would address myself to yo*u in the 
language of plainness, soberness, and truth. I did not 
come here as if I were entering a garden full of flowers 
and of the richest shrubbery, to cull the tea roses, the 
japonicas, the jasmines and woodbines, and weave them 
into a garland of the gayest colors, that by the beauty of 
the assortment, and by their fragrance, I may gratify fair 
ladies. Xor is it my wish, (it is far, far from my wish) to 
revive any subjects of a party character, or which might 
be calculated to renew the animosities which have unhap- 
pily hitherto prevailed between the two great political 
parties in the country. My course is far different from 
this; it is to speak to you of the sad condition of our 
country ; to point out not the remote and original, but the 
proximate, the immediate causes which have produced, 
and are likely to continue our distresses, and to suggest a 
remedy. 

"If any one, in or out of the Senate has imagined it to 
be my intention on this occasion to indulge in any ambi- 
tious display of language, to attempt any rhetorical flights, 
or to deal in any other figures than figures of arithmetic, 
he will find himself greatly disappointed. 

"The farmer if he is a judicious man, does not begin to 
plough until he has first laid off his land, and marked it 
off at proper distances by planting stakes by which his 
ploughmen are to be guided in their movements : and the 
ploughman accordingly fixes his eye upon the stake oppo- 
site to the end of the destined furrow, and then endeavors 
to reach it by a straight and direct furrow. These resolu- 
tions are my stakes." 

DEMOSTHENES. 

When Demosthenes delivered his first 
speech against the king of Macedon which 



22 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

was followed by several others, all of which 
are now termed his "Philippics/' he was 
but thirty years of age, which made it nec- 
essary for him to apologise in his exordium 
"for his zeal in rising before the other 
speakers," and which he did in the following 
terse and expressive terms: 

"Athenians: Had we been convened on some new 
subject of debate, I had waited until most of the usual 
persons had declared their opinions. But since those very 
points on which these speakers have oftentimes been 
heard already, are, at this time, to be considered, though I 
have risen first, I presume I may expect your pardon ; for 
if they on former occasions had advised the necessary 
measures, ye would not have found it needful to consult 
at present." 

PATRICK HENRY. 

The great Virginia orator was much op- 
posed to the change from the Articles of 
Confederation, to the United States Consti- 
tution, and in the Virginia Convention of 
1788, to consider the question of the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, opposed the change 
in a speech remarkable for its energy of 
both thought and language. The following 
was its exordium: 

" Mr. Chairman : The public mind, as well as my own, 
is extremely uneasy at the proposed change of govern- 
ment. Give me leave to form one of those who wish to 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 23 

be thoroughly acquainted with the reasons of this perilous 
and uneasy situation, and why we are brought hither to 
decide on this great national question. I consider myself 
as the servant of the people of this commonwealth, as a 
sentinel over their rights, liberty, and happiness. I rep- 
resent their feelings when I say that they are exceedingly 
uneasy, being brought from that state of full security, 
which they enjoy, to the present delusive appearance of 
things. Before the meeting of the late federal convention 
at Philadelphia, a general peace, and an universal tran- 
quility prevailed in this country, and the minds of our 
citizens were at perfect repose ; but since that period they 
are exceedingly uneasy and disquieted. * * * If 
our situation be thus uneasy, whence has arisen this fear- 
ful jeopardy?" 

Section 2. 
Statement of the Case. 

After the exordium, the next step properly 
in the course of a speech, is, what is termed a 
"Statement of the Case," which is defined by 
Quintillian to be, "An account of a thing 
done or suffered to be done." Apollodorous, 
a writer previous to Quintillian, defines it to 
be, "A narrative to inform the audience 
what the matter in question is," and which 
is the more perspicuous and accurate defini- 
tion. 

Lawyers when addressing a court in a 
legal proceeding, seldom find difficulty in 
presenting an appropriate statement of the 



24 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

case when it relates simply to a question of 
law; but when it is one of fact, the ascer- 
tainment of which requires research into 
evidence of a complicated or contradictory 
character, there is nothing probably in the 
practice of the law more perplexing to com- 
prehend, or difficult to explain in clear and 
expressive terms, than a statement of the 
case; to state it in such terms that they who 
are to decide the question in controversy, 
shall properly understand its salient points, 
and be the better enabled to comprehend 
the evidence as it is introduced, and arrange 
it under methodical consideration. 

The clergy usually commence their ser- 
mons by reading a text or portion of scrip- 
ture, to be followed by argument, exposition, 
or exhortation; and, consequently, they find 
less difficulty in presenting the statement of 
the case for the consideration of their hear- 
ers. 

Lecturers on scientific subjects frequently 
find it quite difficult to find terms suffi- 
ciently clear and expressive, to enable the 
common class of hearers to properly com- 
prehend the point or question to be dis- 
coursed upon. 

But be the subject matter of the discourse 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 25 

or controversy what it may, it is very certain 
that no one well versed in the art of rhetoric 
as applied to public speaking, will engage in 
a general discussion on the merits of the 
matter under consideration, until he shall 
have first made a statement of the case in 
terms explicit and clear to the most ordinary 
comprehension. A partial discussion of the 
question, before a statement of the case, 
may be, under certain conditions, advisable, 
as will be explained hereafter in the re- 
marks concerning argument. 

To argue a matter in detail without hav- 
ing first defined its parts and general prop- 
erties in precise and proper terms, is like 
putting a cart and its load before the horse, 
and compelling him to push it ahead of him, 
instead of placing it behind him where he 
will have the advantage of the draw. And 
yet how many speeches are delivered where 
the audience has to listen until it becomes 
wearied, before it can ascertain the point or 
points the speaker is aiming to advocate or 
controvert! 

When the hearer comprehends at the start 
the question to be discussed, his curiosity 
will naturally incline him to give a willing 
ear to learn on which side of the case the 



26 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

truth lies, or where the weight of the argu- 
ment is to be found. 

The sophist when he finds he is most likely 
to be worsted by legitimate reasoning on the 
general merits of the matter in controversy, 
will seek to create a new issue, or to confine 
the discussion to one or more of its parts or 
properties, which may be more or less sus- 
ceptible to unfavorable criticism, and win 
success, if possible, in a display of words 
and assumed confidence. Hence the speaker 
who feels that he has right on his side, should 
not only confine his remarks closely to the 
question in controversy, but watch, also, to 
see that his antagonist does not depart from 
it, and originate what in law is termed a 
"false issue," and in logic "a misapprehen- 
sion of the question," of which more will be 
said hereafter. 

The rule recommended by Blair, in his 
treatise on rhetoric, relative to forensic dis- 
cussions, to-wit: "To show clearly in the 
statement of the case, what is the point in 
debate, what we admit, what we deny, and 
wherein is our disagreement with the ad- 
verse party," is a rule which applies with 
equal force to all discourses of a controver- 
sial character. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 27 

Mr. Lincoln, though not always very choice 
or elegant in his language, owing doubtless 
to his defective early education, yet was one 
of the most effective public speakers whom 
the United States has produced. He had a 
peculiar gift of "putting things," as he 
termed it, in such shape, that the point he 
advocated or opposed, would be readily un- 
derstood by all. /-When asked how it was 
that he could so readily and clearly state a 
proposition, he replied: 

"Among my earliest recollections I remember how, 
when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody 
talked to me in a way I could not understand. I don't 
think I ever got angry at anything else in my life. But 
that always disturbed my temper. I can remember going 
to my little bedroom after hearing the neighbors talk of 
an evening with my father, and spending no small part of 
the night walking up and down and trying to make out 
what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark 
sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when 
I got on such a hunt after an idea until I had caught it, 
and, when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until 
I had put it into language plain enough, as I thought, for 
any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of pas- 
sion with me; it has stuck by me; for I am never easy 
now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded 
it north, and bounded it south, and bounded it east, and 
bounded it west." 

Hon. J. F. Dillon, whose learning as a law- 
yer, and whose long experience as a judge, 



28 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

first of the Supreme Court of Iowa, and next 
of the Circuit Court of the United States, 
gave him superior opportunity to judge dis- 
creetly of whatever relates to forensic speak- 
ing, has done me the favor in a letter in re- 
ply to one I had previously sent him, to give 
me his views in relation to the statement of 
the case, which are so pertinent, well con- 
sidered, and elegantly expressed, that I feel 
quite thankful in having them before me to 
publish; and which are as follows; to-wit: 

" Nothing can exceed the importance of a proper state- 
ment of the case in a law speech. Not one lawyer in 
twenty can state a case neatly, logically, compactly. They 
begin in the middle, they introduce irrelevant and imma- 
terial matters, useless details, and everything else that is 
bad. A case ought to be opened leaf by leaf as a rose un- 
folds. The late Judge Curtis was a model lawyer, and 
every student ought to study the cases reported in his two 
volumes of Circuit Court reports, with the sole aim of 
learning how to state a case. The opinions of Chief Jus- 
tice Marshall are admirable in this respect." 

Judges Curtis and Marshall well deserve 
the compliment extended to their memories 
by Judge Dillon in the lines above quoted. 
Their fame as lawyers and upright judges, is 
the pride and glory of the American bar. 
Their decisions in cases adjudicated by them, 
constitute a store house of legal literature, 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECII. 



29 



which the student of law will do well to visit 
frequently, to gather treasure for use in his 
future professional career. He may hy close 
study and application learn from elementary 
law treatises what the law is, and what rela- 
tion it bears in general to human affairs; but 
if he would get to its depths and stand emi- 
nent as an advocate, he must familiarize 
himself with judicial decisions which ex- 
plain the principles on which law is based, 
and exemplify its reason and spirit by spe- 
cial examples and illustrations. 

Hedges, in his neat and elegant treatise 
on logic, says, a "misapprehension of the 
question," is, "when the arguments employed 
are of a nature to establish some other 
point foreign to the question in debate, as if 
a person should attempt to prove that Alfred 
the Great was a scholar by affirming only 
that he founded the University of Oxford, or 
that Peter the Hermit was not a christian, 
by proving that he was an ignorant fanatic. 
Neither of these facts" (continues Hedges, 
truly) "has any necessary connection with 
the question to be proved, for a man may be 
a patron of science without being learned 
himself, and an ignorant fanatic may b 
believer in Christianity." 



30 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

The "misapprehension of the question," 
is the reverse in idea, to that rule of law 
which requires evidence to correspond with 
the allegations contained in the pleadings of 
contestants, and to be confined to the point 
or points in issue between them; and which 
rule excludes all evidence of collateral mat- 
ters which do not raise a presumption or in- 
ference in affirmation or denial of the ques- 
tion in controversy. 

Examples. 

1. Thus between a landlord and tenant on the question 
whether the rent was payable quarterly or half yearly, 
evidence of the mode in which other tenants paid their 
rent to the same landlord was excluded as irrelevant. 

2. When the question was as to the quality of beer to 
be furnished by the plaintiff to the defendant, it was held 
that evidence could not be admitted of the quality of beer 
supplied by the plaintiff to other persons. But had it been 
further proved that the beer furnished to the other per- 
sons, came out of the same cask or vessel as the beer in 
controversy did, then such evidence would have been 
competent. 

3. Upon the trial of an issue whether smoke issuing 
from the manufactory of A, was prejudicial to the prem- 
ises of B, evidence that A had paid money to C, the owner 
of premises adjacent to those of B, for alleged damage 
occasioned by the smoke, is irrelevant and not admis- 
sible. 




DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 31 



4. In an action for slander for accusing a teacher of ill 
treatment of his scholars, evidence of the treatment of 
scholars In any other particular school, is not relevant. 

5. Thucydides relates that in an assembly of Athenians 
called to consider on the conduct of the Mitylenians, who 
had been guilty of revolt. Cleon indulged in severe denun- 
ciation of the revolters, and demanded they should be put 
to death. But Diodutus turned the force of the invectives 
of Cleon, by explaining to the Athenians that they were 
not sitting in judgment, but in deliberation, of which the 
proper end is expediency. 

6. A charge that defendant diverted and turned a 
stream of water, is not sustained by evidence that he in- 
terrupted its course by a dam, and caused it to flow back 
upon plaintiffs premises. 

7. Action by husband and wife upon a promise made 
to them jointly, is not sustained by evidence of a promise 
made to her before marriage. 

8. Action on alleged contract to build a ship, is not sus- 
tained by evidence showing the contract was to finish a 
ship already partly built. 

9. Action on a demise for three years, is not sustained 
by evidence of a lease for one year certain and two year's 
further possession, on same terms, by consent of the 
owner of the land. 

10. A sued B and C for six head of beef cattle, sold and 
delivered to them jointly. B made no defense, and C de- 
fended, and by his plea denied he had either separately, 
by himself, or jointly, with B, bought said cattle. On the 
trial A introduced evidence tending to show that he had 
sold and delivered the cattle to B and C jointly ; and C 
(being a competent witness for himself where the trial 
occurred) testified that he did not either separately or 



32 RHETORIC AS AN ART OP PERSUASION. 

jointly buy said cattle from A. C was then proceeding to 
testify that he had bought four of the cattle from B, who 
had bought the cattle from A ; but the court rejected and 
ruled the evidence in regard to the purchase from B as 
incompetent for irrelevancy ; the issue being not whether 
C had purchased of B, but whether B and C had jointly 
purchased of A. 

11. A, as indorsee of a promissory note, sued B on his 
indorsement of said note, and in his petition averred de- 
mand, notice, and protest, which were necessary requisites 
to be alleged in the petition, and to be proved on the trial, 
to enable A to maintain his action. But on the trial A 
failed in his proof of demand, notice, and protest, and 
then sought to maintain his action by proof that subse- 
quent to the time for demand, notice, protest, B, with full 
knowledge of the facts, had agreed to pay the note ; but 
the court ruled against the admission of that evidence, 
because it had not been made an issue in the pleadings. 

12. Where in a suit on a written contract for sale and 
delivery of corn, the only plea of defendant was that he 
did not execute the writing sued upon. Defendant failing 
in the evidence on the plea he had made, sought to get rid 
of the action by an offer to prove that subsequent to the 
execution of the contract, a new arrangement had been 
made, which released him from his obligation to deliver 
the corn ; but the court refused to admit that evidence, 
because it was not relevant to the issue created by the 
pleadings. 

13. A sued a railroad company for an injury to his per- 
son occasioned (as his petition alleged) by the negligence 
of defendant in not keeping its road-bed where the injury 
occurred in proper repair, and on the trial offered evidence 
to prove that the road-bed was out of repair generally, 
and at other parts as well as where he was injured; but 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 33 

ourt ruled against the evidence, because the issue did 
not relate to the general character of the road as to its 
safe or unsafe condition, or whether there were other 
parts of the road-bed iii an unsafe condition; but whether 
the road was unsafe where A was injured, and whether 
it (the place where A was injured) was, under the facts 
detailed by the evidence, negligence in defendant not to 
have discovered its condition and have had it repaired 
before A was injured. 

14. In an action against a railway company for dam- 
ages for causing the death of plaintiff's intestate, evidence 
to the effect that the company offered to pay the latters 
funeral expenses, is not material. 

15. In the trial of a contested election case, evidence 
respecting mistakes made in the count of votes for other 
officers voted for at the same election, is immaterial. 

16. Occasionally are to be found clergymen who have 
had the advantages of a collegiate education, and are well 
educated in general literature, as well as Bible reading, 
and, yet, when they preach, will discourse on almost any 
other point of religious doctrine than the one which the 
text they have read specially relates to. This comes from 
negligence of thought, and can be obviated by very little 
care and attention. To make preaching effective, and 
leave lasting impression on the minds of the congrega- 
tion, the clergyman should confine the argumentative 
part of his discourse, as near as possible, to the idea con- 
tained in the text, and, especially so, as the peroration in 
a speech from the pulpit opens a wide field for digression 
and exhortation. 

» 

"The chief requisite," remarks Quintillian 

in his Institutes of Oratory, "is to keep the 
point in dispute, an J that which we wish to 

3 



34 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASIOX. 

establish, constantly before our eyes; because 
if we keep to one object, we shall not be led 
into useless altercation, or waste the time 
due to the cause in railing." 

What is termed in law " special pleading," 
which requires each party to state in precise 
and formal words the fact or facts on which 
he relies for cause of suit, or for ground of 
defense, as the case may be, is specially well 
calculated to educate the mind to the close 
observance of the issue in controversy, and 
to the rejection of everything of an irrele- 
vant character. 

A thorough knowledge of "special plead-, 
ing," is of special importance to the student 
of law, because, as expressed by Judge Story, 
it (special pleading) "contains the quintes- 
sence of the law, and no man ever mastered 
it who was not by that very means, made a 
profound lawyer." 

And when he (the student of law) is ad- 
mitted to the Bar, and is engaged in the 
trial of a cause, he should, especially, if the 
trial be to the jury, watch closely to pre- 
vent the admission of evidence not strictly 
relevant to the issue made by the pleading. 
or which may be incompetent for any other 
cause. Because though after the admission 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 35 

of evidence which is not legally competent, 
it should be subsequently ruled out by the 
court, and the jury be instructed to disregard 
it, yet, possibly, notwithstanding such ruling 
by the court, it may make a lodgment more 
or less in the minds of the jurors, and in a 
case doubtful on the legitimate evidence, in- 
fluence them to give the benefit of the doubt 
to the party whose evidence is ruled out af- 
ter being heard by them, especially if that 
evidence inclines to his favor. 

It is difficult for jurors unlearned in law 
to always appreciate the reasons for the 
withdrawal of evidence by the court which 
has once got before them, and the best way 
to keep them out of that embarrassment, is 
diligently, to watch and prevent the admis- 
sion of improper evidence, by objecting to it 
and resisting it at the threshold. 

The ordinary place for the statement of 
the case is immediately after the exordium; 
but sometimes it may be placed with advan- 
tage before the exordium; and where the 
question at issue is, from any cause, already 
properly understood bj r the audience, a formal 
statement of the case may with propriety be 
omitted altogether. 

There is no certain rule in oratory as in 



36 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

mathematics, and experience and common 
sense will often nob only allow, but show, 
an advantage in departure from the ordinary 
rules of speaking. 

If circumstances require a formal state- 
ment of the case, but for some special rea- 
son it is required to precede the exordium, 
it may be well, after the exordium is deliv- 
ered, to again re-state the issue, or issues, in 
controversy; for the exordium and state- 
ment of the case are parts of the same in- 
tellectual edifice, u,nd to have their full force 
and effect in the way of persuasion, should, 
as a general rule, stand in close proximity 
with each other, with the exordium in front. 

This essay having at my request been re- 
viewed by that distinguished divine, and 
eminent pulpit orator, Rev. W. S. Craig, 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Keokuk, Iowa, he favored me with several 
criticisms which I approved, and changed 
the essay to conform thereto. He also pen- 
ned a criticism on what is said in the essay 
several pages back in reference to the state- 
ment of the case from the pulpit, which 
though I do not fully acquiesce in, yet be- 
cause of the learned source from whence the 
criticism comes, and that it is but fair to 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 37 

let the pulpit speak for itself, I here give a 
copy of it as follows; to-wit: 

"Touching your statement of the case when you say 
'The pulpit has less difficulty in the statement of the case,' 
I would differ with you here. The clergyman has a far 
more promiscuous audience to deal with than falls to the 
lot of the lawyer, whose addresses are directed to judges 
and juries. So it becomes a matter of extreme delicacy 
and difficulty for the clergyman to strike the proper me- 
dium in the statement of his case, so as not to offend the 
delicate taste of the cultivated and refined, nor yet go be- 
yond the capacity of his humble hearers. 

"Another difficulty arises from the nature of the themes 
that form the subjects of pulpit discourse; men have got 
so used to them as to regard them in a great degree as 
matters of course. In dealing with the great questions 
of sin and personal holiness, it becomes a task of extreme 
difficulty, to state them so as they shall reach the individ- 
uality of the personal conscience. 

" It is a very conceivable tiling, and a matter which the 
experience of all clergymen can testify as common, for a 
person to listen to a discourse in which the deformity of 
sin is portrayed even with graphic power, and yet look 
upon it as the portraiture of a great abstraction, having 
no connection with the personal self, and, therefore, excit- 
ing very little of his interest. But with the subjects of 
the bar it is altogether different. The concrete form in 
which they are presented, enables the speaker to arouse 
the attention with far less effort. The interest of an audi- 
ence can be far more easily excited in regard to the enor- 
mity of injustice by seeing it embodied in a human per- 
sonality; while on the part of the clergyman it requi 
great amount and fertility of inventive genius, 'to state 
his case' upon subjects with which men are very familiar 
in a way that will arouse and compel attention. 



38 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

" Then again the clergyman must every week ' project ' 
his discourse before he can go a single step. The lawyer 
has his discourse 'projected' by the circumstances and 
facts of the given case." 

Hon. S. F. Miller, Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, who stood in the 
front rank of the advocates and lawyers of 
Iowa, before he was appointed to the bench, 
has favored me with a criticism of this essay, 
which so far as it relates to the statement of 
the case, I will here copy. Judge Miller's 
ability as an advocate united with his long 
experience as a justice of the Supreme 
Bench of the United States, before which 
tribunal the best oratorical talent of the 
United States frequently appears and speaks, 
give peculiar importance to his views as ex- 
pressed to me, and here copied, as follows: 

"The meaning of this phrase" (statement of the case) 
"is such a preliminary statement to the judge or jury of 
the matters of law or of fact, or of both, as will enable 
the persons addressed to comprehend the nature of the 
questions to be discussed, and the main proposition on 
which the speaker relies to establish his case. These are 
afterwards amplified, illustrated, and sustained by refer- 
ences to testimony, to the inferences to be deduced from 
that testimony, and to principles of law involved in the 
case, supported by appropriate citations of authority. 

"But to enable the judge or jury to understand fully, 
and appreciate correctly, the force and value of the more 



i 

DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 39 

elaborate argument, it is necessary in the first instance to 
give a clear view of the aspect of the case; of the matter 
to be decided, and of the elements of which that decision 
must be composed. This object is not successfully at- 
tained either by the announcement that certain abstract 
questions of law are necessary to be decided in the judg- 
ment to be rendered, nor that certain items of evidence 
will be introduced. 

"The counsel whose duty it is to make the opening 
statement for his side of the case, should have a clear 
theory of that case; a theory around which he should 
group all the facts which he admits as established for the 
other side, and those which he intends to rely on as proved 
by his own. And while he need not in terms state what 
that theory is, his statement of the case, should conform 
to it strictly ; should suggest it to the mind of the court 
or jury, with such a distinct and clear perception of it, 
that the legal propositions appropriate to counsel's view 
of the case seem naturally to arise out of the statement. 

" It is such a statement as this, that has given rise to the 
remark, almost become trite, of many eminent lawyers: 
* That their statement of the case is more convincing than 
the full argument of other men.' The faculty of doing 
this in perfection is rare ; but cultivation and close atten- 
tion to the best models, and an effort to discover what 
such a statement is, and what it is not, will be rewarded 
with a reasonable degree of success in any well regulated 
mind. 

" It is also important to understand that a chronological, 
or other detailed statement of the evidence, with numer- 
ous dates, and names of witnesses, is not such a state- 
ment. Xothing is such a statement which the mind of an 
ordinary man cannot carry with him, and remember with- 
out taking notes. Xo reference to cases and pages in law 
books, nor any abstract announcement of legal proposi- 



40 KHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

tions unconnected with the facts to which they are to be 
applied, will answer the requirement. The propositions 
of law and of fact on which counsel rely must be stated 
so as to show clearly their relation to each other, and be 
so plainly expressed as to present a chart of the road to 
be traveled, without a map in detail of the country 
through which that road is to go. 

" I wish to express my cordial approval of the remarks 
under the head of fallacies, as to the effect of counsel 
being carried away from the strong points of their case 
by the art of an opponent who insists upon discussing 
other matters. 

"My experience teaches me that more sound lawyers 
and able advocates are.misled by this artifice, to the preju- 
dice of their cases before the court and jury, than by any 
other. 

"Such has always been my opinion of the value of 
choosing the ground on which the battle is fought, that 
when at the bar, it was my practice contrary to that of 
most lawyers who had the right of choice, to open the ar- 
gument, rather than close it, where two speeches were to 
be made on the same side. 

"A skillful lawyer in opening a case will often be able 
to throw so much doubt around a clear matter, or give so 
much importance to an immaterial one, that his unwary 
opponent follows him into the web of sophistry, when he 
could have stood secure on ground of his own selection." 

Section 3. 

Argument. 

Every statement of a case contains one or 
more propositions; to-wit: That which is 
stated or affirmed for discussion, exposition. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 41 

or illustration; and an argument is a reason, 
or reasons, for, or against, such proposition, 
or propositions. 

The argument for the proposition, is, in 
rhetoric, called "Confirmation," and that 
against it, "Confutation" 

Natural reason frequently expresses itself 
with considerable force and clearness, espe- 
cially on common-place subjects, or such as 
are simply personal to the speaker. Thus 
the child in its simple terms can make known 
its wants and grievances, and at times very 
effectively; and so can the adult savage. 

But a discourse relative to art or science, 
requires the aid of cultivated reason always; 
and there is not perhaps in the whole circle 
of literature, anything which requires more 
study and reflection than what pertains to 
argument generally. 

Cicero draws a comparison between edu- 
cated and uneducated reason, and shows the 
advantage of education bestowed upon good 
natural parts, very expressively, thus: 

"Natow without learning is of greater efficacy towards 

the attainment of glory and virtue, than learning without 
nature; but when to an excellent natural disposition the 
embellishments of learning are added, there results from 
this union something great and extraordinary." 



42 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Whatever infers or deduces consequences 
from a fact or facts proved or known, or 
from premises assumed without proof or 
knowledge, is an argument; and as the 
sources of inference and deduction are num- 
berless, so it has been found convenient for 
purpose of reference and illustration, to di- 
vide argument into species or classes, and to 
speak of it under various titles and designa- 
tions. 

1st. Induction. 

The most common designation of argu- 
ment is " Induction," which, as defined by 
Whately, "infecs respecting a whole class, 
what has been ascertained respecting one or 
more individuals of that class." From a 
number of instances it infers some general 
result or conclusion ; and sometimes from 
one instance it infers a general result or 
conclusion. 

Examples. 

1. Having by experiment ascertained that iron or any 
other special metal when brought under a certain in- 
fluence of heat will melt, we conclude that each kind of 
metal of the one or ones experimented upon, will, also, in 
all cases, melt when placed under a like influence of heat. 
That is induction from instance, or individual, to indi- 
vidual. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 43 

2. Having by experiment ascertained that a certain 
number of metals; to-wit: gold, silver, lead, iron, and 
copper, will melt when placed under certain degrees of 
he.it, we naturally enough infer that all other metals are 
also fusible. This is induction from particular's to a whole 
class. 

3. Experience demonstrates that nature is, as a general 
rule, uniform in its operations ; 

"That it acts by general, not by partial laws;" and 
hence when we have placed in the fire a number of varie- 
ties of wood and other vegetables, and find each and all 
experimented upon Virus, we legitimately infer that all 
wood and other vegetables will burn ; as well those not 
experimented upon, as those experimented upon. 

4. From the fact that such material objects as come 
under our observation, when raised above the earth and 
their support withdrawn, fall back to the earth, we prop- 
erly infer the general result, that all material objects are 
subject to the attraction of gravitation. 

5. We see men daily dying around us, and that no one 
as far as our acquaintance extends, is exempted from the 
laws of mortality, and hence infer, very properly, that all 
men are mortal. 

6. We learn the peculiar traits and habits of a certain 
limited number of the brute creation, and from them infer 
that all other animals of their species and class, will, under 
like conditions, manifest substantially like habits and dis- 
positions. 

7. Concerning a person whose past life has been noted 
for good moral principles and application to business, we 
infer like conduct of him in the future, and entrust him 
with our most important business affairs. 



44 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

8. A defendant in a criminal trial may introduce evi- 
dence of his general good moral character in the neighbor- 
hood where he resides, because whatever it may be, it is 
built on his general conduct and actions in intercourse 
with his fellow men, and which, when good in general' 
implies more or less a negative of guilt in any one partic- 
ular thing; and which though not conclusive evidence of 
innocence, is yet frequently of much importance to a de- 
fendant when the evidence is not positive or clear against 
him. Also, whether in a civil or criminal trial, evidence 
may be introduced to impeach the credibility of a witness 
whose general character for truth is bad in the neighbor- 
hood where he resides, because it is a legitimate inference 
that one whose general habit is falsehood in business or 
other relations with his fellow men, is not to be received 
as a credible witness even in a judicial proceeding; and 
where a witness has knowingly and corruptly sworn falsely 
to any one matter material to the issue in a legal contro- 
versy, his testimony on all points in that trial is to be dis- 
credited if not discarded, on the idea, that where the 
fountain is shown to be foul, whatever comes from it will 
most probably partake of its vileness; the rule being 
" false in one, false in all," or as it is expressed in Latin 
from whence the maxim is drawn ; "Falsus in uno, falsus 
in omnibus" 

9. From a numt>er of particulars in animated nature, 
where each and all show design and the adaptation of a 
means to an end, we are led to the irresistible inference of 
a divine authorship over all. The solar system and the 
starry world beyond, countless in number, and each gov- 
erned by fixed and invariable laws, and moving in har- 
mony, tends to the same inference. 

The psalmist awe-impressed with the wonders of the 
celestial world, exclaimed : 
" When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers ; 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECn. 4") 

the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what 
is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of 

man that Thou visitrst him? For Thou hast made him 
a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with 
glory and honor. * * * O Lord, our Lord, how ex- 
cellent is Thy name in all the earth ! " 8th Psalm. 

10. Lawyers in cases involving questions of fact, argue 
inductively, when they examine and criticise each item 
and instrument of evidence separately, and finally press 
forward their united force as tending to establish the 
proposition they advocate, or to disprove that to which 
they are opposed. 

ARISTOTLE AND BACON. 

It has been said and written by some, but 
not truthfully, that Bacon is the founder of 
the inductive style of reasoning, and that 
Aristotle is the author of the syllogism. 
It is strange that any one should have fallen 
into such an error when as a matter of fact, 
induction is now, and has ever been, the 
common vernacular of human speech, and, 
besides, there are plenty of books extant 
which contain numberless instances of the 
use both of the inductive and syllogistic 
styles of argument, written ages before the 
name of either Bacon or Aristotle adorned 
the page of history. 

Aristotle wrote learnedly concerning the 
syllogism, and presented what he conceived 



46 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

to be its advantages as a mode of argument, 
in most attractive language ; and Bacon 
wrote, to convince the world, that the only 
true style of argument is in induction; but 
neither is the author of the style with which 
each one's name seems to be in the mind of 
the world so intimately connected, unless 
writing upon a subject already well known, 
and presenting it in attractive form and 
language, makes one the author of that sub- 
ject; an authorship which surely none may 
justly claim. 

2nd. Syllogism. 

While treating next of the syllogism, I 
will endeavor by examples and illustrations, 
to show there is a close relation in idea be- 
tween Induction and the Syllogism, and that 
when properly understood they harmonize 
with each other, and together add grace, 
force, and beauty, to both argument and 
display of language. 

Syllogism is a species of argument con- 
sisting of three propositions, the first two of 
which are termed the major and minor prem- 
ises, and the last the conclusion. And it is 
so expressed that if the premises are true or 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 47 

admitted to be correct, the conclusion or 
inference claimed, necessarily follows. It is 
of little or no practical use in the discovery 
of truth, but assists vastly in the embellish- 
ment of argument, and in instructing, or 
conveying truth to others. 

Examples. 

No plant has the power of locomotion ; 

An oak is a plant; 

Therefore an oak has not the power of locomotion. 

No human invention is perfect ; 
Every language is a human invention; 
Therefore no language is perfect. 

"Whatever thinks is a spiritual substance ; 

The mind of man thinks; 

Therefore the mind of man is a spiritual substance. 

That which sacrifices truth and kindness to very 
weak temptations, is above all other vices, inconsistent 
with the character of a social being; 

Envy sacrifices truth and kindness to very weak temp- 
tations ; 

Therefore envy is, above all vices, inconsistent with 
the character of a social being. 

Every indictment in a criminal proceeding, 
and every declaration or petition in a civil 



48 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASI02T. 

action, involves a syllogism, express, or im- 
plied. 

Example in a criminal proceeding. 

In the indictment are either express or 
implied, the averments; to-wit: 

Major premiss : Whoever does or perpetrates a certain 
thing (describing it), violates law, and is guilty of a cer- 
tain crime (naming it) ; 

31 inor premiss : Such a person (naming him) perpetra- 
ted the crime named in the major premiss (stating with 
particularity the act done, with date and place, to identify 
the accused to a certainty with the offense charged) ; 

Conclusion : Therefore, the person named in the minor 
premiss, is guilty of the crime named in the major premiss, 
and is liable to the punishment prescribed by law. 

Examples, in a civil action; to-ivit: a contro- 
versy at law between private individuals. 

Major premiss : Whenever one employs another to do 
certain work under special contract as to the price of 
wages, and the work is completed according to contract, 
the employer is liable in law for the wages agreed upon 
with interest and costs of suit ; 

Minor premiss: B employed A to do certain work for 
him with an agreed price as to wages, and A did the work 
according to contract, and B refuses (or neglects) to pay 
A what is due him ; 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 40 

Cdhclusion: Therefore, A is entitled to prosecute B at 
law and recover judgment for the amount due him on the 

contract Bpecified in the minor premiss, with interest and 
costs, and to have process of law to enforce its collection. 

Major premiss: Whoever engages another to work for 
him without agreement as to price, and the work is done 
according to contract, is liable in law to pay for the work 
done what it is reasonably worth; 

Minor premiss: B employed A to work for him with- 
out agreement as to the amount of wages to be paid, and 
A did the work according to contract, and his wages are 
reasonably worth so much money (naming it); 

Conclusion: Therefore, A is entitled to recover judg- 
ment against B for the reasonable value of his wages as 
named in the minor premiss, with interest and costs of 
suit, and to process of law to enforce the collection. 

Induction and the syllogism proceed in 
opposite directions. Induction from some 
quality found in certain individuals of a class, 
infers that same quality to exist in every 
member of the class; it infers from particu- 
lars some general conclusion. The syllogism 
from a certain quality which it assumes to 
exist in- a class infers that each individual of 
that class possesses the same quality. 

Induction proves and infers. The syllo- 
gism assumes and deduces. Hut in moral 
reasoning, the syllogism is valueless unless 
its premises are capable of proof, or belong 



50 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

to that category of ideas, termed "self-evi- 
dent truths." 

Illustration. 
In the Syllogism, 

"All vegetables will burn, 
Wood is a vegetable, 
Therefore wood will burn," 

we can know the truth of the premises by 
the inductive process only, and the worth 
of our induction depends entirely on the 
merit of our previous experiments and in- 
vestigations. This idea is tersely expressed 
by Bacon in an aphorism of his "Novum Or- 
ganum;" thus: 

" The syllogism consists of propositions, propositions of 
words, and words are the signs of notions. If, therefore, 
the notions (which are the basis of the whole), be confused 
and carelessly abstracted from things, there is no solidity 
in the superstructure. Our only hope, then, is in genuine 
induction." 

The syllogistic and inductive processes of 
argument are beautifully blended in the 
celebrated speech of Cicero for Milo who 
was tried for the murder of Clodius. 

Cicero first announces the idea (major 
premiss) that whoever lies in wait to murder 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 51 

another, may be lawfully killed by the one 
whose life is imperiled, if his safety requires 
it. He then adduces a number of facts and 
circumstances in nature and history to vin- 
dicate that idea. That is the inductive pro- 
cess. He next advances the idea (minor 
premiss) that Clodius had in fact laid in wait 
for Milo to murder him, though in the ren- 
counter which ensued Clodius was killed. 
This he enforces by referring to a number 
of special facts, such as that Clodius was on 
horseback with his sword by his side ; and 
was surrounded with armed servants when 
he and Milo met on the highway; that the 
meeting was at a place where business called 
Milo and of which Clodius beforehand knew; 
that Milo was in a carriage with his wife 
and encumbered with a cloak upon him; 
that Clodius had on several prior occasions 
threatened personal violence to Milo, but 
Milo never to him; and that in fact Clodius 
commenced the affray. Having thus by the 
inductive process established the major and 
minor premises of his argument, he advan- 
ces the conclusion: to- wit: that Milo was 
justifiable in killing Clodius; a conclusion 
which necessarily followed if his premises 
were well established. 



52 KHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Milo was convicted and sent into banish- 
ment notwithstanding the beauty of the 
syllogism, and the ability with which his 
defense was conducted. But if Cicero stated 
the facts correctly, it was an erroneous de- 
cision, and indicates what was charged at 
the time by the friends of Milo, that it was 
not an honest decision, but the result of 
partisan feeling and prejudice on the part' of 
the judges, instigated by Pompey who under 
authority of a decree of the Eoman Senate, 
had selected them, and who was well known 
to be inimical in feeling to Milo. 

Also the Declaration of Independence be- 
longs to the syllogistic system of argument, 
in which its minor premiss is supported in- 
ductively. 

Thus the major premiss of the Declaration 
assumes certain things therein named to be, 
"self-evident truths;" to-wit: that all men 
are created equal, and are endowed by their 
creator with certain unalienable rights, 
among which are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness; that to secure these rights 
governments are instituted amongst men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed; and that whenever a gov- 
ernment becomes destructive of these rights 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 53 

and ends, it is the right and duty of the peo- 
ple to alter and abolish it, and to establish 
a new government, which will give the se- 
curity required. 

The minor premiss asserts that the gov- 
ernment of Great Britain (the mother 
country) had by a long train of abuses and 
usurpations evinced a design to invalidate 
the rights named in the major premiss, and 
to place the people under absolute despot- 
ism. 

This premiss (the minor) is then supported 
inductively by the statement of a large 
number of specified and alleged facts of 
abuses and usurpations. 

And the conclusion is: 

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the United 
States of America, in general Congress assembled, ap- 
pealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the recti- 
tude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the author- 
ity of the good people of these oolonies, solemnly publish 
and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right 
ought to be, free and independent states," etc., etc. 

The syllogism in the hands of a skillful 
sophist, is capable of being used to advance 
many fallacies; thus: 



54 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Examples. 

Every one desires happiness; 

Virtue is happiness ; 

Therefore every one desires virtue. 

^No evil should be allowed that good may come of it ; 

Punishment is an evil ; 

Therefore no punishment should be allowed. 

White is a color ; 
Black is a color ; 
Therefore black is white. 

All quadrupeds are animals; 
A bird is not a quadruped ; 
Therefore a bird is not an animal. 

A crusty old bachelor might indulge in 
the following fallacy: 

"If a wife is beautiful, she excites jealousy; 
If she is ugly, she gives disgust; 
Hence, it is best not to marry." 

But a man who knows and can appreciate 
the worth of a true woman, especially if she 
be such as is described in the last chapter of 
Proverbs, will frequently find virtue in 
beauty, and will, also, often find the most 
charming characteristics of head and heart 
united with a homely face. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 55 

"Whatever is based simply on human testimony is doubt- 
ful; 

The existence of the pyramids of Egypt rests on human 
testimony; 

Therefore the existence of the pyramids of Egypt is 
doubtfuL 

Eating and drinking are necessary to support life; 
Vitellus expended his wealth in procuring luxuries for 
his table; 

Therefore Vitellus expended his wealth in procuring 
what was necessary to support life. 

He who cannot act otherwise than he does, deserves no 
credit however good his actions may be; 

A benevolent hearted man who has the means to exe- 
cute his wishes, cannot do otherwise than give alms to the 
poor; 

Therefore a benevolent hearted man deserves no credit 
for his charities and alms deeds. 



3d. Analogy. 

Analogical argument is often resorted to 
when the higher degree of moral evidence 
is not attainable. Analogy is not a similar- 
ity of things, but a similarity or agreement 
of relations. 

When we say as one is to ten, so is ten to 
a hundred, we reason (says Quintillian) by 
analogy. Analogy is properly a resemblance 



56 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

of ratios in which we argue from one thing 
to another which are not themselves alike, 
but stand in similar relations to other things. 
Thus (for an illustration given by Whately), 
"an egg and a seed are not in themselves 
alike, but bear a like proportion to' the 
parent bird and to her future nestling on 
the one hand, and to the old and young 
plant on the other respectively." By anal- 
ogy we compare the fins of a fish to the 
wings of a bird, both being used for motor 
power, though the animals they belong to 
reside in different elements. By analogy we 
infer that the planets are inhabited, because 
they get their light from the sun as the 
earth does, and revolve on their own axis, 
and revolve around the sun as the earth 
does; are subject to the laws of gravitation 
as the earth is, and are supposed to have 
atmospheres as the earth has; and finding 
them so similar to the earth in many re- 
gards, and holding such like relations to the 
sun, we infer that they, too, through the 
wisdom of the beneficent Creator of all, are 
inhabited by various orders of living crea- 
tures. 

Analogy is an unsafe mode of reasoning, 
and is allowable only where known facts 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 57 

fail. It is often resorted to by lawyers who 
when they cannot find a precedent in law 
exactly in point, aim to find some other case 
bearing more or less relation in law and ar- 
gument, to the one in controversy. 

Whoever wishes to become learned in this 
species of reasoning, may consult "Butler's 
Analogy" with advantage. 

4th. Various other Designatons of Ar- 
gument. 

There are other designations of argument, 
the more prominent of which are as follows; 
to-wit: 

Argumentum a priori, which is reasoning 
from cause to effect; thus: knowing the 
earth is a non-transparent body, we infer, 
with certainty, that when it gets between 
the moon and the sun, there will be a lunar 
eclipse; from our knowledge of the skill of 
the general, w T e anticipate his success in mil- 
itary exploits; from the knowledge of a mo- 
tive, we frequently anticipate the conduct of 
an individual; from our knowledge of the 
nature of beasts of prey, we anticipate and 
avoid their ferocity; knowing that fire burns, 
we anticipate its consequences, and seek to 
confine it within safe limits; and, indeed, 



58 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

whenever we anticipate anything, we may 
be said to reason a priori, or by causation; 

Argumentum a posteriori, from effect to 
cause, by which we look through the won- 
ders of nature to a Divine ojrigin; by which, 
from the uniform success of a general, we 
infer his skill; by which a fact in controversy 
is inferred by our knowledge of collateral 
facts which have a connection with it, more 
or less remote, which in law is termed cir- 
cumstantial evidence; 

Argumentum ad hominern, based on the 
character and conduct of an adversary; 

Argumentum ad crumenan, an appeal to the 
purse, of which the speech of Demetrius, the 
silversmith, is an apposite example; 

Argumentum ad ignorantium, an exposure 
of the ignorance of your opponent; 

Argumentum ad verecundium, an appeal to 
some respectable authority which your op- 
ponent will be inclined to admit, or cannot 
contradict without prejudice to his cause: 

Argumentum ad judicium, an appeal to 
unbiased reason; 

Argumentum ad populum, an appeal to the 
passions and prejudices' of the multitude, 
and is generally construed in a bad sense; 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 59 

Arcjumcntum a fortiori, so much the more; 
with greater reason; to-wit: 

1. "Consider the lilies of the held, how they grow; 
they toil not ; neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto 
you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed 
like one of these. 

"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall 
He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" 

2. "Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your 
I Ieavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much letter 
than they f 

3. "If the felon who robs on the highway, deserves the 
punishment of death, this retribution is due so much the 
mote to the wretch, who has committed parricide." 

Argumentum bacidiniun, club law, convic- 
tion (or rather pretence of conviction) which 
is the result of force; 

Argumentum ab inconveniently unsuited to 
circumstances, or as St. Paul expressed it, 
when he said, all things were lawful for him, 
hut all things were not expedient: 

Argument direct, which shows by immediate 
and direct evidence, or argument, the agree- 
ment, or repugnancy, between the subject 
and predicate of the proposition in question; 

Argument indirect, which establishes the 
truth of one or more ideas or propositions 
by showing the error or falsehoods of the 



60 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

• 

one or ones to which they are opposed. 
Thus in a criminal prosecution where the 
defense rests on an alibi, the proof that the 
person accused was not present when the 
crime was perpetrated, but elsewhere, will 
acquit him, unless it be shown by the prose- 
cution that he either instigated, or was in 
some way accessory to the crime committed. 
An ancient philosopher, under this species 
of argument, confuted a skeptic who denied 
the existence of God, by the following apt 
syllogism: 

"The world is either self -existent, or the work of some 
finite, or infinite being ; 
But it is not self-existent, nor the work of a finite being: 
Therefore it is the work of an infinite being." 

Under this head comes also what is termed 
in logic a reductio ad absurdum, which leads 
to, or involves an absurdity, of which the 
dilemma propounded to Pyrrho, the ancient 
skeptic, is an example. He had asserted 
that no one can have certain knowledge of 
anything. One of his friends answered him, 
thus: 

" You either know what you say to be true, or you do not 
know it ; 

"If you do know it to be true, that very knowledge proves 
your assertion to be false; 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 61 

" If you do not know it to be true, you do wrong to assert 
it, since no one has ;i right to assert what he does not 
know to be true ; 

" Therefore, in either case, you do wrong to assert, that 
no man can have certain knowledge of anything." 

CONFIRMATION. 

The confirmatory part of a speech should 
be spoken with deliberation, earnestness, 
and gravity, and the least attempt at wit, or 
humor, here, is calculated to impair the 
weight and dignity of argument. But in 
the confutation part, as the object is to dis- 
parage and not to magnify, the shafts of wit, 
irony, ridicule, anecdote, and sarcasm, may 
be often used to advantage. 

The argument should, as a general rule, 
follow immediately after the statement of 
the case; but there may be occasions when 
it should in part precede the statement of 
the case. Thus if the exordium shall have 
failed to procure an attentive and impartial 
hearing from the audience, it may be advis- 
able to advance cautiously with arguments 
of an equivocal character, so expressed as 
seemingly to coincide at least in part with 
the notions and prejudices of the hearers, 
but ultimately tending to the advocacy of 



62 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

your side of the question. If this apparently 
partial yielding of a part of your views to 
the ideas and prejudices of the audience, 
shall incline it to give you an impartial hear- 
ing, then you may state the case and announce 
the side you intend to advocate; but should 
be careful to do so in the least offensive man- 
ner. A little innocent wisdom has often ex- 
tricated speakers from unpleasant positions. 
St. Paul turned this idea into good account 
when about to be torn into pieces by an in- 
furiated mob, by crying out that he was a 
Pharisee, and because of his belief in the 
resurrection of the dead he was called in 
question and his safety imperiled. This 
drew a portion of the crowd (and perhaps 
the larger portion) to his side, who said 
what, "if a spirit or an angel has spoken to 
him." Paul was, indeed, a believer in the 
resurrection of the dead, and hence as far 
as he spoke, he told the truth to the crowd; 
but had he added that he believed in the 
resurrection as taught by the Nazarene and 
His disciples, he would hardly have escaped 
from the vengeance of his enemies. 

As already stated, the argument should, as 
a general rule, follow immediately after the 
statement of the case; but whether the con- 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 63 

firmation or confutation, shall come first, 
depends much on the experience and Judg- 
ment of the speaker. If the speech is of 
the nature of a lecture, or of a discourse, 
which is not to be replied to, system and 
order, seem to require that the affirmative 
arguments should be advanced before the 
negative should be considered; and in case 
of a public discussion, as it is incumbent on 
the party holding the affirmative to open the 
discussion, he should, in system and fairness, 
state fully the confirmatory arguments 
before he closes his address. 

The speaker should never start out with 
a weak argument, for first impressions often 
control, and an unsound argument at the 
start may impress the hearer with the idea 
that you are either trying to impose on his 
credulity, or presuming on his ignorance,, 
and thereby prejudice him against you. 

Cicero's plan usually was to advance one of 
his best arguments at the commencement, to 
be followed by others of a less specious char- 
acter, and to conclude with a strong argu- 
ment: and he compared the arrangement of 
the argumentative part of his speech to a 
bridge with the massy abutments resting 



64 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

against either side of the stream, and the 
piers or lesser structures between them. 

Quintillian approves of Cicero's plan in 
regard to the introduction of arguments, 
and recommends the same order to be ob- 
served by an advocate in the introduction of 
evidence; to- wit: "that the strongest be 
placed first and last; for the former dispose 
the judge to believe him, and the latter to 
decide in his favor." 

But if in a general discussion your antag- 
onist shall have advanced arguments of a 
formidable character, and yet has been so 
indiscreet as to have advocated other posi- 
tions, also, which are unsound and easy of 
confutation, it will usually be advisable to 
reserve your confirmatory arguments, and 
your reply to those of your opponent of ap- 
parent merit, until you shall have exposed 
and refuted to the comprehension of all, 
w T hat he has said of a clearly sophistical 
character. 

It is dangerous to advance an unsound 
argument under any circumstances, since if 
exposed so that the hearer fully compre- 
hends its untenable points, he will accept 
whatever else comes from you, however good 
it may be, with close scrutiny and suspicion. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 65 

If you choose to commence with an expose 
and confutation of the arguments of your 
opponent, you should not pursue them too 
far, lest you give character to his speech, 
and induce the audience to suppose there is 
a good deal of merit in what he said, else 
you would not expend so much time in op- 
position. But having answered and confuted 
in as brief terms as possible what seemed 
to be his leading ideas, you should pass to 
your own side of the question, remarking as 
you do so, that you will hereafter refer again 
to the arguments of your opponent, if ybu 
should in the mean time regard them as 
worthy of further consideration. 

If your opponent has advanced ideas 
which are not relevant, nor material to the 
issue in controversy, it is useless to expend 
time in refuting them, even if they should 
be ever so sophistical; and the shortest way 
to get rid of them is to re-state the issue, 
and then briefly show their inapplicability. 

In all portions of your speech, but espe- 
cially in the argumentative part, 

•' IV brief, be pointed; let your matter stand, 
Lucid in order, solid, ami at hand; 
Spend not y * > u r words on trifles, but condense; 

rike with the mam of thoughts, not drops of sense; 
5 



66 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Press to the close with vigor once begun, 

And leave (how hard the task!), leave off when done. 

Again, 

"Words are like leaves ; and where they most abound, 
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. 
False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, 
Its gaudy colors spread on ev'ry place ; 

******** 

But true expression, like the unchanging sun, 
Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon ; 
It gilds all objects, but it alters none" 



BURDEN OF PROOF. 

There is in all questions of controversy 
and discussion what is termed the burden of 
proof, which makes it incumbent on a party 
advocating the affirmative of an idea or 
issue, to sustain the same by a preponder- 
ance of argument or evidence as the case 
may require. If there be no such prepon- 
derance in favor of the affirmative it must 
fail; or if the argument or evidence on 
either side is simply balanced, and there is 
no preponderance, yet should the decision 
be given to the negative, because it is not 
required to do more than to meet affirma- 
tion with denial: to hold its own against 
aggression. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECn. 07 

In law cases, known as civil causes, or 
suits simply between private parties, a mere 
preponderance of evidence though it may 
not generate full and satisfactory belief, is 
yet sufficient to authorize a verdict for the 
party in whose favor the weight and credi- 
bility of evidence preponderates. But in 
criminal causes the law in its tenderness 
and regard for liberty, life, and reputation, 
will not authorize a verdict of guilty how- 
ever much the evidence may preponderate 
against the accused, unless it generates full 
belief of his guilt to the exclusion of every 
reasonable doubt. Thus, though the weight 
of the evidence tend to criminate the ac- 
cused, yet if there exists in the evidence and 
fairly deducible from it, any fact, circum- 
stance, or hypothesis, which may reasonably 
account for the crime imputed to the ac- 
cused consistently with his innocence, the 
existence of such fact, circumstance, or hy- 
pothesis, creates in law a reasonable doubt 
which demands an acquittal of the accused. 
The law in its benignity considers it better 
that one hundred guilty persons should 
escape than one innocent man be made to 
suffer; and the history of criminal jurispru- 
dence replete as it is with instances of con- 



68 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

victions of innocent parties on evidence 
which at the time of trial seemed to war- 
rant such convictions, but afterwards dis- 
covered to be erroneous, manifests the wis- 
dom of the law in requiring an acquittal 
unless the evidence amounts to "moral cer- 
tainty," which though not equal to, borders 
close on mathematical demonstration. 

DUTY OF LAWYERS. 

It may not here be out of place to indulge 
in a few remarks especially concerning the 
duty of lawyers in their practice as counsel 
and advocates. An attorney who properly 
appreciates the dignity of his profession, 
will never engage in either the prosecution 
or defense of a cause at law, unless it com- 
mends itself to his reason as just and honor- 
able to so do, irrespective of the fee in- 
volved. 

But as it is with other occupations and 
professions, so unfortunately is it also some- 
times in the practice of the law, that here 
and there is occasionally to be found a mem- 
ber of the bar who has no conception of the 
value of the law beyond its capacity to earn 
money, and who in his desire for money. 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 69 

when he cannot succeed in a suit by just 
and honorable means, will resort to every 
species of rhetorical artifice and subterfuge 
to win a cause and circumvent an adver- 
sary. 

"To be as wise as a serpent and harmless 
as a dove," is a maxim no less applicable to 
the practice of the law than to that of re- 
ligion, and no one need expect to arrive at 
eminence in his profession as a lawyer, nor 
in any other pursuit of a controversial char- 
acter, unless he is learned in the artifices 
and devices which may be resorted to in ar- 
gument by an unscrupulous opponent. He 
should learn them not to practice them, but 
to anticipate and avoid them, or to expose, 
and by exposure, destroy their influence 
when they have been perpetrated. 

Examples of Fallacies. 

1. Unquestionably the most important of the fallacies 
to be guarded against, is the one known in law as a " false 
issue," and designated in logic as "misapprehension of 
the question," which, under the head of statement of 
the case (ante), is sufficiently there commented upon for 
practical purposes, with examples given for illustration, 
and need not therefore be here repeated. 

This fallacy is not always perpetrated by design. Fre- 
quently speakers who have not trained their minds to 



70 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

close habits of thought, will unconsciously wander from 
the question under discussion, and. ramble off into the 
wildest fields of digression, much to the disgust of intelli- 
gent hearers. 

2. An execrable fallacy, or more properly speaking, dis- 
honest artifice, is where a speaker intentionally misrepre- 
sents the argument of his opponent, or imputes to it a 
tendency which does not fairly belong to it, but is calcu- 
lated to excite popular prejudice and odium. 

Speakers unlearned in the meaning of words, or care- 
less in their expressions, are liable to have this fallacy 
perpetrated upon them, and hence the student who would 
aspire to the position of an advocate or teacher, should 
before he assumes either of those garbs, become learned 
in the true signification of words and the rules of gram- 
mar, and habituate himself to think closely, and to speak 
with precision. 

3. Near allied in idea to the last referred to artifice, is 
where the advocate selects one or two of the weakest of 
the arguments of his opponent, and assumes and asserts 
that on them, and them only, hinge and depend the merits 
of the case in controversy ; and then engages in a labored 
confutation of them, and having succeeded to his wish, 
demands a decision in his favor on the general merits of 
the case. The danger of this artifice should warn all 
speakers against risking an imsound argument under any 
circumstance whatever. 

4. There is a figure of speech termed "Epimone" 
which will be more specially noticed hereafter, the pur- 
pose of which is to render some word or thought ridicu- 
lous by its frequent repetition, and showing its grotesque 
character as an element of argument. But sometimes 
from the frequent repetition of a thought, is deduced one 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 71 

of the most subtle fallacies known to language. This 
fallacy is often resorted to by unscrupulous men during 
the excitement of political contests, when some idea or 
point is assumed without proof to the detriment and 
prejudice of a man or party; and though it may have no 
just foundation for support, yet is dwelt upon and com- 
mented on so frequently, that the ignorant assume that 
the charge must be true, else it would not receive so much 
consideration; they apply to the matter under considera- 
tion the old adage: "That where there is so much smoke 
there must be some fire." 

5. Nearly related in idea to the last mentioned fallacy 
is where in a law trial the evidence of facts, or questions 
of law, are complicated, and it requires much research to 
ascertain which side is entitled to success. Here the un- 
scrupulous but astute advocate will avoid the point or 
points which make against him, and seek by every art of 
language and argument he can command, to turn the in- 
vestigation into the channel of thought which tends to 
support his side of the question, repeating it, and pressing 
it forward, with great apparent candor and earnestness: 
and here having the vantage ground, he is almost certain 
of success, if his opponent, less skilled in polemics, ac- 
cepts the point thus made, or issue, or issues thus tend- 
ered, as the one or ones on which the result of the contro- 
versy hinges, and makes a labored argument against them. 
A prudent soldier will hardly desert the walls of a fortifi- 
cation to go out and fight with an adversary on equal 
terms in the open field; nor will a wise advocate neglect 
to properly present and press the point or points which 
best support his side of the controversy, to engage in a 
wrangling dispute over Irrelevant questions presented by 
his adversary. Many a suit atdaw has been lost through 
the incompetency of the attorney, in neglecting, or not 



72 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

properly appreciating, a certainty, to contend over an un- 
certainty. 

" What boots success in skirmish or in fray, 
If rout and ruin following, close the day. 
***** 

He who would win his cause, with power must frame, 
Points of support, and look with steady aim; 
Attack the weak, defend the strong with art, 
Strike but few blows, but strike them to the heart.'' 1 

6. Nearly allied to the last named artifice, "is the art of 
skillfully dropping part of a statement, when the reasoner 
finds he cannot support it, and going on boldly with the 
remainder as if he still maintained the whole." 

7. The argumenticm ad hominem is a frequent source 
of fallacies, especially in legal and political discussions. 
It occurs w T here one contestant retorts upon his opponent 
that his own conduct on a prior occasion, or occasions, was 
in opposition to the rule of conduct, or measure he advo- 
cates in the present discussion. That retort may be true as 
regards the individual, but has no argumentative value in 
regard to the subject under discussion. An inconsistent 
character may, and often does, advance the most truthful 
arguments, while others noted for consistency of moral or 
other conduct, can hardly advance a good argument on any 
subject, "Where the question under discussion does not in 
itself relate to the conduct of one of the contestants, any 
reference to such conduct is irrelevant, and is an attempt 
to excite prejudice at the expense of truth. 

8. A fallacy w T hich is especially dangerous in a discus- 
sion before a mixed or ignorant audience, is where the 
proposition under consideration is of a complex character, 
and some of its terms being valid in argument and others 
unsound. Here the speaker who advocates the affirmative 
of the issue in controversy, will, if he discriminates prop- 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 73 

erly, advocate such terms and ideas only us can withstand 
the crucial test of logical criticism, and disclaim all others. 
But unfortunately there are no Inconsiderable number of 

men who put themselves forward as speakers, and some 
of them of considerable education, too, "with heads full 
of learned lumber," and yet so obtuse in intellect as to be 
hardly able to discriminate between what is good or bad 
in argument, or to perceive what is the real point in con- 
troversy; and who advocate and argue heedlessly every 
point involved as though the loss of one would involve 
the defeat of all. 

Here an unscrupulous opponent, if astute in argument, 
will avoid the strong points of the argument on the affirm- 
ative of the issue, and seizing on the weak ones only, re- 
fute them in detail with apparent zeal and confidence, and 
claim the meed of success on the pretense that all the 
terms of the proposition discussed constitute unity in 
idea, and must all stand, or all go down together, as when 
a link in a chain is broken, the chain must necessarily 
separate. 

9. There is a fallacy called, " Begging of the question," 
which consists in assuming as true the question under 
discussion, or in offering as evidence of its truth a change 
of words having substantially the same meaning. Thus 
to the question, Why does morphia produce sleep ? An- 
swer: Because of its soporific quality. The word "sopor- 
ific " means sleep-causing. Hence when we say morphia 
produces sleep because of its soporific quality, we say 
simply in idea that morphia produces sleep, because it 
produces sleep. The following are other examples of this 
fallacy ; to-wit : Why does opium relieve 1 pain V Answer: 
Because it is an anodyne; to-wit: it relieves pain be 
it relieves pain; the word anodyne meaning a capacity to 
relieve pain. Why does grass grow V Answer: Because 



74 EHETOEIC AS AN AET OF PEESUASION. 

of its vegetative power; to- wit: it grows because it grows; 
the word vegetative signifying growing, or having the 
power to grow. A proper knowledge of the meaning of 
words, will always readily detect the fallacy of such an- 
swers, as soon as uttered ; and yet in common conversa- 
tion there is no impropriety of language more frequently 
perpetrated. 

10. A fallacy not often resorted to in law debates, but 
ingenious in its application when used, is called, " Reas- 
oning in a circle," which "assumes one proposition to 
prove another, and then rests the proof of the first on the 
evidence " or argument of the second. The following are 
examples of this fallacy: A pertinent example was stated 
by Marcy, Judge, in the case of Starbuck vs. Murray, 5th 
Wendell R., 148. Plaintiff had sued defendant on a judg- 
ment of another state for 8393.36, in which there had been 
no personal service by notice or summons on defendant, 
but certain of his property had been attached, and the 
record erroneously certified that defendant had appeared 
as a party to the suit. Defendant pleaded that he was not 
served with process and did not appear to the suit. Plain- 
tiff demurred to this plea because the instrument sued 
upon says he did appear to the suit, and this he verified 
" by the record." This said Makcy, " Is reasoning in a 
circle." The fact which defendant puts in issue is the 
validity of the record ; and plaintiff replies that the paper 
declared on is a record because it says the defendant ap- 
peared, and defendant did appear because the paper is a 
record. And the court decided that while the record of a 
sister state is prima fade evidence of the truth of the 
matters it recites, yet that when the jurisdiction of the 
court which rendered the judgment is directly put in 
issue, it is like any other fact, examinable. 

The Mahometans assume that the Koran is the word of 
God by the traditions and history of Islam, and then 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 75 

claim that Islam is the true religion by the words of the 
Koran. 

The necessarians insist that everything man does is 
done of necessity, by assuming that the mind acts me- 
chanically like the body, and "that it never can act unless 
the motive which causes the action be greater than any 
other then existing in the mind. Any particular volition 
is then declared to be necessary, because the motive which 
produced it, was the strongest then in the mind." 

Fatalists argue thus : a man must either do a thing, or 
not do it. If he does it, he does it by compulsion, and if 
he does not do it, he refrains from doing it by restraint. 

An ancient sect of philosophers insisted that the center 
of the earth is the center of the universe, by this process 
of reasoning ; to-wit : Where every physical body tends 
is the center of the universe. But all bodies tend towards 
the center of the earth. Therefore the center of the 
earth is the center of the universe. 

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS. 

Analysis, which signifies taking apart, and 
Synthesis which signifies putting together, 
constitute such important elements in the 
discovery of truth, and in its communication 
to others, that one who has not made them 
a special study, can hardly hope to become 
acute in argument, or eloquent and popular 
in speech. 

The purpose of analysis is to investigate; 
to search for the origin and truth of things; 
that of synthesis, to teach truth and knowl- 



76 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

edge in a systematic and orderly form to 
others. 

Analysis is regression, or going back; syn- 
thesis is progressive, or going forward. 

By analysis the chemist disintegrates the 
particles of any medical mixtures, and dis- 
covers the properties of each; by synthesis 
he reunites those particles into their origi- 
nal compound, or creates, also, if he chooses, 
other combinations. 

By analysis we discover that water is 
composed of two gases, united im certain 
proportions, called oxygen and hydrogen, 
each of which when in separate condition, 
is dangerously inflammable; by synthesis 
we reunite and combine those gases in the 
same relative proportion in which they ex- 
isted before their separation, and reproduce 
water, always grateful to the parched tongue 
and fevered lips. 

By analysis we discover chemical affinity 
to exist between substances apparently of 
the most dissimilar nature and character- 
istics; and by synthesis we unite them and 
form a compound essential to the comforts 
of civilized life. Seldom perhaps does the 
face of beauty reflect that the sweetly 
scented toilet soap, which is to be found in 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 77 

her dressing-room, is composed of caustic 
and the grease used to give easy friction 
to the axle of the farmer's wagon. 

By analysis we separate the terms of a 
proposition, and accept the true, and reject 
the false. Thus, in the proposition, "Caesar 
was brave and humane," we analyze the in- 
cidents of his life, and find he truly was a 
brave man; but also find that he invariably 
sacrificed humanity to advance his selfish 
interests; and, we, therefore, conclude, that 
if he were at times humane, it was only be- 
cause he supposed it was not his interest to 
be otherwise. 

Unfortunately for the certainty of lan- 
guage and argument, the subject and predi-. 
cate of propositions are not always simple, 
consisting of but one term or word for each 
subject, and one term or word for each pred- 
icate; nor are the terms always univocal, or 
meaning the same thing. Indeed they are 
frequently equivocal, or subject to several 
meanings; sometimes they are relative, or 
to be understood only by their relationship 
or reference to some other thing or person; 
and sometimes they are concrete, which in- 
dicates a thing, and also its qualities, or a 
•n, and also his mental characteristics. 



78 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Frequently also terms are complex, con- 
sisting of several words for a subject, or 
several words for a predicate, part of which 
may be true, and the other part false, as is 
illustrated by the proposition concerning 
Caesar; and sometimes propositions are what 
is termed "compound," which consists of 
two or more simple ones united in one sen- 
tence or question, a part of which (as in the 
case of complex terms), may be true, and a 
part false; and, hence, there is an inevitable 
necessity for the use of analysis in every 
species of investigation and reasoning; there 
is nothing which is, or can be the subject of 
thought or discussion, but needs its helping 
hand. 

Lord Chesterfield in a letter to his son in 
1748, said: 

" Examine carefully and reconsider all your notions of 
things ; analyze them, and discover their component parts ; 
weigh the matter upon which you are to form your opin- 
ion in the equal and impartial scale of reason. It is not 
to be conceived how many people capable of reasoning, 
if they would, yet live and die in a thousand errors from 
laziness; they will rather adopt the prejudices of others, 
than give themselves the trouble of forming opinions of 
their own." 



divisions of a speech. i \) 

Section 4. 

Peroration. 

The peroration is the concluding portion 
of the speech, in which is briefly recapitu- 
lated the arguments advanced, for the pur- 
pose of impressing them more lastingly on 
the minds of the hearers; and also, for the 
purpose of exciting their sympathies and 
moral sentiments, if the subject and occa- 
sion be such as legitimately to admit of it. 
Man is an emotional as well as rational 
creature, and often when argument con- 
vinces but fails to move to deeds, a proper 
appeal to his moral and emotional nature 
will induce him to the performance of the 
most honorable and heroic actions. Camp- 
bell in his "Philosophy of Rhetoric," says: 

"To say that it is possible to persuade without speaking 
to the passions, is but, at best, a kind of specious non- 
sense. * * * To make me believe, it is enough 
to show me that things are so; to make me act. it is nec- 
essary to show me that the action will answer some end. 
* * * You assure * me it is for my honor.' Now 
you solicit my pride. * * * 'You say it is for 
my interest.' Now you bespeak my self-love. 'It is for 
the public good.' Now you rouse my patriotism. l It will 
relieve the miserable.' Now you touch my pity. So far. 
therefore, is it from being an unfair method of persuasion 
to move the passions, that there is no persuasion without 
moving them." 



80 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

An appeal then to man's passions and 
emotional nature, is allowable on proper 
occasions; such as to advance the cause of 
truth, honesty, honor, an<l, indeed, all the 
train of human virtues; but should never be 
indulged in for purposes not sanctioned by 
morality and religion. 

The speech of TertuUus against St. Paul, 
contains a neat and concise exordium and 
statement of the case. And the speech of 
St. Paul in his defense before Agrippa, con- 
tains each of the essential divisions of a 
speech, expressed in the most touching and 
animating terms. The rival speeches of 
Demosthenes and iEschines in their great 
contest concerning Ctesiphon, commonly 
called the " Orations on the Crown," and of 
Cicero in defense of Milo, show wonderful 
art as well as eloquence, containing each 
in consecutive order, the exordium, state- 
ment of the case, argument, and peroration. 
These speeches should be specially studied 
by the student of oratory, if for no other 
purpose than to learn by example the rules 
of rhetoric. Lord Chesterfield, one of the 
first orators of his age, in a letter to his son, 
in 1752, specially commends to him the 
study of the speeches of Cicero and Demos- 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. 81 

thenes, "to learn by their exordia how to 
engage the favor of the audience, and by 
their perorations, how to leave a strong im- 
pression on the minds and passions of the 
hearers." 

The speech of Socrates before his judges, 
as related by Plato, who was present at the 
trial, contains the essential divisions of an 
oration, though Socrates had had but little 
experience in public speaking; his teaching 
having been mostly conversational. But in 
vindication of moral conduct and principles; 
in exposition of human relations and relig- 
ious duty; in exaltation of good sentiment, 
and nobility of thought, it probably has 
never been excelled by speech of mortal 
man. 

The speech imputed to him which is fre- 
quently found in school books, is copied 
from Xenophon, who was in Sparta when 
the trial occurred, and who wrote it as it 
was related to him by a third party. It is 
but an epitome of the speech as delivered, 
and though it contains several beauties and 
excellencies, gives but a faint idea of the 
eloquence and other merits of the original. 

I do not think any one can read the 

Bpeech as found in Plato, without rising from 
G 



82 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

the task, improved and strengthened in his 
moral and religious principles and nature. 

The perorations of the following speeches 
sparkle with gems of rhetorical talent; to- 
wit: Cicero in defense of Cluentius; Cicero 
against Caecilius; Cicero rn his concluding 
speech against Verres; Erskine in defense 
of Hardy; Curran in defense of Rowan; 
Sheridan on the impeachment of Hastings; 
Burke on American taxation; Lord Chatham 
on the removal of troops from Boston ; Camp- 
bell on the impeachment of Judge Chase; 
Mr. Pinckney on the treaty making power; 
Webster on the Panama mission; Webster in 
his second speech in reply to Hayne on the 
Foote resolution; Webster in defense of 
Judge Prescott; Mr. Clay on the "Expunging 
resolution/' and his address after his resig- 
nation in Congress, and return to Kentucky, 
in 1S42. 

It is deemed appropriate to close this 
portion of the essay, with the following 
from "Cicero de Oratore," relative to the 
divisions of a speech and its delivery; thus: 

"An orator must first find out what he has to say ; he 
must then distribute and range it, not only in order, but 
also with reference to its importance ; he is next to clothe 
and embellish it by his expression ; he is then to imprint 



DIVISIONS OF A SPEECH. S3 

it in liis memory, and lastly to deliver it with gracefulness 
and dignity. Before one enters on the main subject, he 
should endeavor to gain the affections of his hearers. In 

the next place the fact is to be represented, the case is to 
be stated, and the speaker then proceeds to prove his alle- 
gations; he next proceeds to confute what has been ad- 
vanced by the other party; and at the conclusion of his 
speech whatever makes in his favor he is to magnify and 
improve, and whatever makes against him he is to weaken 
and extenuate." 

"But the effect of all these particulars depends upon 
action. * * For nature has given every passion 
its peculiar expression in the look, the voice, and the gest- 
ure ; and the whole frame, the look and the voice of a 
man, are responsive to the passions of the mind, as the 
strings of a musical instrument are to the fingers that 
touch them. For as the musical instrument has its dif- 
ferent keys, so every voice is sharp, full, quick, slow, loud, 
or low, and each of these keys have different degrees, 
which beget other strains, such as the smooth, and the 
sharp, the contracted and lengthened, the continued and 
interrupted, the broken and divided, the tender, the shrill, 
and the swelling; all these require to be managed with 
art and discretion. And the orator makes use of them, as 
the painter does of his colors, to give variety to his piece. 

"Anger has a peculiar pronunciation, which is quick, 
short, and broken :— 

4 My brother gives me his advice 
To tear my tender children with my teeth. 
O what a cursed wretch must I be then I ' 

"And the following : 

'Ah ! mark you this quick ! bind him.' 



84 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

" The tone of pity and grief is different ; it is full, mov- 
ing, broken, and mournful. 

4 Where shall I turn me ? Whither shall I fly ? 
To my paternal seat, or Pelias' daughters ? ' 

"And, 

* O my father ! O my country ! O the house of Priam ! ' 

" Fear is low, diffident, and humble : 

1 With what variety of wretchedness 
Am I surrounded ! sickness, exile, want.' 

" Vehemence demands a strain that is intense, strong, 
and majestically threatening. 

"Pleasure is diffusive, soft, tender, cheerful and gay. 

"All action depends upon the passions of which the 
face is the picture, and the eyes the interpreters. For 
this is the only part of the body that is expressive of all 
the passions. 

"If you have not a good voice, whatever nature has 
given you ought to be cherished. It is certain that in 
speaking, nothing tends more to acquire an agreeable 
voice than frequently to relieve it, by passing from one 
strain to another; and nothing tends more to destroy it, 
than a continued violent straining." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 85 



CHAPTER III. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 

Figures of speech, rhetorically considered, 
signify a deflection of words from their or- 
dinary use and signification. They are a 
departure from the simplicity of language, 
and may consist in the use of certain words 
specially to convey an idea different from 
their ordinary signification, or of a combi- 
nation of words into a sentence or discourse 
different from ordinary speech or composi- 
tion, but calculated to make a startling and 
vivid impression. 

They are the result usually of ardent feel- 
ing or active imagination, though sometimes 
they are used solely for ornament of compo- 
sition. 

When properly used, they give grace and 
power to oratory, and, indeed, beautify and 
strengthen every species of composition. 

Though figures of speech signify a depart- 
ure from the simplicity of language, gener- 



86 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

ally, yet sometimes they are considered in a 
more limited sense, as tropes or figures of 
words, and figures of thought 

Figures of words consist in using a word 
to signify something different from its origi- 
nal meaning, as, James has a fine taste in 
wines. Here the word taste has its common 
literal meaning. James has a fine taste for 
painting, poetry, or music. Here the word 
taste is used figuratively. To the upright 
there ariseth light in darkness; here the 
word light is used figuratively for comfort, 
and darkness for adversity. Figures of thought 
are as follows: 

1. Metonomy. 

Which is used to express, 1st, the cause for 
the effect; 2d, the effect for the cause; 3d, the 
container for the thing contained; 4th, sign 
for the thing signified: 

Examples. 

"They read Milton," meaning Milton's works; "grey 
hairs should be respected," meaning old age should be re- 
spected ; " the kettle boils," meaning the water in the ket- 
tle boils ; "he addressed the chair," meaning the person in 
the chair ; " they have Moses and the prophets," meaning 
they have the teachings of Moses and the prophets ; " in 
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," to-wit : by thy 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 87 

labor and industry shalt thou procure thy food; "the 
earth was also corrupt before God," meaning that the in- 
habitants of the earth were corrupt; "ray son give me 
thy heart," i. e., thy affection; "he was the sigh of her 
secret soul," to-wit : the youth she loved ; " O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets," etc., meaning 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem who killed the prophets, etc. 

2. Synecdoche. 

This expresses a whole for a part, a genus 
for a species, a species for a genus and an 
attribute for a subject. 

Examples. 

"I see a fleet of twenty sail," meaning twenty ships; 
the horse (anrindividual) is a noble animal" (which is a 
genus) ; " the animal (which is a genus) is a wolf," (which 
is an individual); "the youth of the village are numer- 
ous," meaning the young persons of the village are nu- 
merous ; " they smote the city," meaning that they smote 
the people of the city. 

3. Exclamation. 

This figure is always the effect of strong 
emotion or passion. 

Examples. 

"OGod! O joyful day!" 

"Whatapieee of workmanship is man! how noble in 
reason! how infinite in faculties!" 



88 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

" that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way- 
faring man! O that I had wings like a dove! then would 
I fly away and be at rest." 

"O sadness thou hast no wisdom for the bereaved!" 

"How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!" 

" Woe to thee Chorazin ! Woe to thee Bethsaida ! " 

"To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek! " 

"Remember March; the ides of March remember!" 

"Away slight man ! " 

"Fie, fie, for shame! away! away!" 

4. Comparison. 

This expresses in words the resemblance 
between two objects, whether real or imag- 
inary, and the word "like," is generally used 
to express the simile, though the word " as " 
is occasionally used for the same purpose. 

Examples. 

" The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed." 

"Sorrow like a cloud on the sun, shades the soul of 
Clessamour." 

"Pleasant are the words of the song, said Cuchullin, 
and lovely are the tales of other times ; they are like the 
calm dew of the morning on the hill, when the sun is 
faint on its side, and the lake is settled and blue in the 
vale." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 89 

" Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
Which like the toad ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in her head." 

" When I remember all, 

The friends so linked together, 
I've seen around me fall, 

Like leaves in wintry weather ; 
I feel like one who treads alone 

Some banquet hall deserted, 
Whose lights are fled, whose garland's dead, 

And all but he departed." 

" If music be the food of love, play on ; 
Give me excess of it, that surfeiting. 
The appetite may sicken, and so die. 
That strain again ;— it had a dying fall. 
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing, and giving odor." 

" I have ventur'd 
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, 
This many summer in a sea of glory, 
But far beyond my depth." 

" The christian graces are like perfumes, the more they 
are pressed the sweeter they smell ; like stars that shine 
brightest in the dark ; like trees, which, the more they are 
shaken, the deeper root they take, and the more fruit they 
bear." 

Buckingham's denunciation of Cardinal 
Wolsey, contains two apt comparisons, and 
also two metaphors; thus: 

"Buckingham, To the king I'll say it; and make my 



90 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

vouch as strong as shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox, 
or wolf or both, for he is equal ravenous, as he is subtle? 

The following from a work of romance, 
entitled "Her Lovers," by the gifted Miss 
Sue Clagett of Keokuk, Iowa, contains a 
gem of comparison, and is in almost every 
word highly figurative: 

" The beautiful morning was quite cloudless, save one 
long rosy finger which stretched along the horizon and 
pointed to the coming day. Slowly the great red sun slid 
up from behind the walls of the world. The thistledown 
as it sleepily swings in the summer air is not so gentle as 
he ; the tornado as it crashes through forests and sweeps 
over seas is not so resistless. Like a young God he 
stepped forth from the caves of the morning, and standing 
tip-toe upon the quivering edge of the horizon surveyed 
the dewy delicious world." 

In the following from Wastell are to be 
found, perhaps, more instances of the figure 
under consideration than can be found else- 
where in the same space of English litera- 
ture: 

" Like as the damask rose you see, 
Or like the blossom on the tree, 
Or like the dainty flower of May, 
Or like the morning to the day, 
Or like the sun, or like the shade, 
Or like the gourd which Jonas had, 
E'en such is man— whose thread is spun, 
Drawn out and cut, and so is done. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 91 

The rose withers, the blossom blasteth, 

The flower fades, the morning hasteth, 

The sun sets, the shadow flies, 

The gourd consumes— and man he dies! 

Like to the grass that's newly sprung, 

Or like a tale that's new begun, 

Or like the bird that's here to-day, 

Or like the pearled dew of May, 

Or like an hour, or like a span, 

Or like the singing of a swan, 

E'en such is man ;— who lives by breath, 

Is here, now there, in life and death. 

The grass withers, the tale is ended, 

The bird is flown, the dew's decended, 

The hour is short, the span not long, 

The swan 's near death,— man's life is done!" 

" How fleet is a glance of the mind! 

Compared with the speed of its flight, 
The tempest itself lags behind, 
And the swift-winged arrows of light." 

"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, 
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold, 
And the sheen of their spears, was like stars on the sea, 
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. 

" Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
That host with their banners at sunset were seen, 
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown 
That host in the morning lay withered and strown." 

" TVhereunto shall we liken the kingdom of heaven ? 
or witli what comparison shall we compare it? It is like 
a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the 

earth is less than all the seeds that Ik- in the earth; but 
when it is sown it groweth up and becometh greater than 



92 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

all herbs and shooteth out great branches, so that the 
fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it." 

"At first like thunder's distant tone, 
The rattling din came rolling on." 

" Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak ; and hear O 
earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop 
as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew ; as the small 
rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the 
grass." From the Canticle of Moses. 

"For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the 
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower 
thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth 
forever." 

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as 
the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with 
banners ? " From Solomon's Song. 

" Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which 
built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. 

"And everyone who heareth these sayings of mine and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
built his house upon the sand, and the rains descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house, and it fell ; and great was the fall of it." From 
Sermon on the Mount. 



Note. — Should any one wonder why there are so many scriptural quota- 
tions in this Essay, the answer is ; I sought the best literary gems I could 
find for examples and illustrations ; and that considering the Bible simply 
as a literary work (and aside from all religious bearing), I know of no other 
work either modern or ancient to compare with it in beauty of sentiment, 
strength of thought, or ornament of language. I speak this not from re- 
ligious prejudices, but from a simple regard to truth and fair dealing. 



figures of speech. 93 

5. Metaphor. 

A comparison is a similitude expressed 
in words; a metaphor is a similitude ex- 
pressed in thought. To say that a certain 
man is like a fox, is a comparison; to say- 
that a certain man is a fox, is a metaphor; 
and both expressions mean the same thing; 
to- wit: that the person referred to possesses 
those attributes of craft, treachery, and cun- 
ning, peculiar to the fox. 

Examples of Metaphor. 

" The soldiers were lions in combat." 

"He is a pillar of state." 

"I am the rose of. Sharon and the lily of the valley." 

"The lion of the tribe of Judah." 

" For I know this, that after my departure, shall griev- 
ous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock." 

"The proud pillar of their independence has been 
shaken down, and the whole moral fabric lies in ruins." 

" Ye are the salt of the earth. * * Ye are the light 
of the world." Matthew, ch. 5, vs. 13, 14. 

Christ to depict in strong terms the lead- 
ing traits in Herod's character, called him a 
fox: 

" Op ye and toll that/os," vW. Luke, ch. 13, vs. 31. 



94 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

, The following contains a notable example 
of the figure under consideration, followed 
by two expressive figures of comparison: 

"York. Of Salisbury, who can report of him ; 
That winter lion, who, in rage, forgets 
Aged contusions and all brush of time ; 
And, like a gallant in the brow of youth; 
Repairs him with occasion ? This happy day 
Is not itself, nor have we won one foot 
If Salisbury be lost." 

"Rich. My noble father, 

Three times to-day I holp him to his horse. 
Three times bestrid him, thrice I led him off, 
Persuaded him from any further act: 
But still where danger was, still there I met him ; 
And like rich hangings in a homely house, 
So was his will inliis old feeble body." 

Second part, scene 3d, of King Henry VI. 

In the following, "danger" is first person- 
ified, and next with Caesar's name is ex- 
pressed metaphorically: 

"Banger knows full well, 
That Csesar is more dangerous than he. 
We were two lions litter'd in one day, 
And I the elder and more terrible : 
And Csesar shall go forth." 

Elisha magnifies Elijah metaphorically; 
thus: 

"My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the 
horsemen thereof.'" 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 95 

"Life is an isthmus between two eternities." 

6. Allegory. 

A metaphor usually consists of one word. 
An allegory is really a metaphor in amplifi- 
cation, or as it is usr.ally expressed, a meta- 
phor continued. 

To say that a man is a fox, or a lion, or 
other figurative idea, expressed by a single 
word, is metaphorical, but to extend the 
idea, expressive of the various attributes of 
the character imputed, into a sentence or 
discourse, is an allegory. The 80th Psalm 
contains a most beautiful and pertinent ex- 
ample; thus: 

Examples. 

"Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; Thou hast 
■at the heathen and planted it. Thou preparest room 
before it, and did'st cause it to take deep root, and it filled 
the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, 
and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. S7ie 
sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto 
the river. Why hast Thou broken down her hedges, so 
that all they which pass by the way do pluck herf The 
boar of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the 
hVid doth devour it. Return, we beseech Thee, O God of 
Hosts ; look down from Heaven, and behold and visit this 
vine." 



96 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Longfellow in his poem, entitled "By the 
Seaside" furnishes a beautiful example of 
the allegorical species of literature; thus: 

" Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 
Humanity with all its fears, 
With all the hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 
We know what Master laid thy keel, 
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel ; 
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 
In what a forge, and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 
'Tis of the wave and not the rock; 
'Tis but the napping of the sail, 
And not a rent made by the gale! 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are with thee, 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee,— are all with thee ! " 

The following from Isaiah is also of the 
allegorical character: 

"My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful 
hill, and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof* 
and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in 
the midst of it, and also made a wine-Dress therein. And 






FIGURES OF SPEECH. 97 

he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought 
forth wild grapes. 

"And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of 
Judah, judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. 
What could have been done more to my vineyard that I 
have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it 
should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? 

"And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my 
vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall 
be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall 
be trodden down. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be 
pruned, nor digged ; but there shall come up briers and 
thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no 
rain upon it. 

" For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of 
Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he 
looked for judgment, but behold oppression ; for righteous- 
ness, but behold a cry." 

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is generally 
termed by literary persons an allegory; but 
can it justly bear that signification? Tt is 
indeed a fiction, and very elegant in both 
thought and language, where under assumed 
names and circumstances, the truths of a 
religious life are vividly pictured. But fic- 
tion is not necessarily allegory. If it were, 
all writings of romance would be more or 
Irs- of an allegorical character. To be alle- 
gorical, it must be metaphorical as well as 
fiction. It seems to me that the "Pilgrim's 



98 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

.Progress" is more properly described as a 
parable, which indicates a supposed history 
of something real in life or nature, and 
which though a fiction, contains within it a 
latent truth, useful especially to enforce and 
illustrate moral and religious ideas and doc- 
trines. I feel that I am right in the idea 
that the work referred to, is not an allegory, 
but a parable, by the examples of the New 
Testament, concerning the ten virgins, the 
man who went to Jericho and fell amongst 
thieves, the sower who went out to sow, and 
the rich man and Lazarus, each example of 
which is conceded universally to be a para- 
ble. 

There is a marked difference in idea be- 
tween the fable and allegory, and yet loose 
thinkers sometimes confound them in speech. 
A fable is generally expressed in simple lan- 
guage, without metaphorical or other figur- 
ative expressions, and indicates a fiction 
based on the supposed actions of brutes and 
inanimate things usually to please or amuse, 
but sometimes to enforce some useful "truth 
or precept. The alleged conversation be- 
tween the body and its members, related by 
Menenius Agrippa to induce the commons 
to return to Rome, and the assumed talk of 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 99 

the trees inviting the bramble to be king 
over them related in Judges (Ch. 9), are fa- 
miliar examples. ^Esop's fables, the delight 
of every young person, and frequently also 
the instructor of the old, constitute remark- 
able instances of the species of composition 
called, "Fable." 

7. Hyperbole. 

This is an expression which for the pur- 
pose of giving special significance to an idea, 
represents things as much greater or less, 
stronger or weaker, faster or slower, better 
or worse, than they really are, or will, or 
can be. 

Examples. 

He is as slow as a snail. 
He is as strong as an ox. 

"If a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall 
thy seed also be numbered." 

Cassius to excite the envy and indignation 
of Brutus, and induce him to engage in the 
conspiracy against Caesar; thus: 

■ Why man he doth bestride the narrow world 
Like a colossus, and we petty men 
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about 
To find ourselves dishonorable graves." 



100 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

"The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread, 
And trembling Tiber, dived beneath his bed." 

"Here Orpheus sings; trees moving to the sound, 
Start from their roots, and form a shade around." 

" With fury driven, 
The waves mount up and wash the face of Heaven." 

The foregoing figures of speech are gen- 
erally known and understood by all, being 
common more or less to every day conver- 
sation and general literature, and it is there- 
fore not deemed necessary to expend more 
time in the selection of examples for their 
illustration; but those other figures of speech 
which will be next treated of, belong pecu- 
liarly to the domain of oratory, especially 
to what is termed impassioned public speak- 
ing; and to them more attention will be 
given and more examples be furnished. And 
the student of oratory who would wish to 
attain a high rank in his profession, will do 
well to study them thoroughly. 

8. Rhetorical Dialogue. 

"Rhetorical dialogue," is a term which I 
saw some years ago in a French treatise on 
Rhetoric. I do not remember of having seen 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 101 

it elsewhere. It is a powerful instrument in 
the hands of an expert orator for both em- 
bellishment and argument. It is easier to 
explain by examples, than by definition, and 
yet I will venture upon one; to-wit: an ar- 
gument by interrogation and answer, which 
may relate to the speaker himself, or to some 
other person or persons. Examples will best 
illustrate its force and beauty. Thus; De- 
mosthenes, in an address to the Athenians: 

" Tell me, will you still go about and ask one another, 
what news ? What can be more astonishing news than 
this, that the man of Macedon makes war upon the Athe- 
nians, and disposes of the affairs of Greece? Is Philip 
dead ? 2s o, but he is sick. W r hat signifies to you whether 
he be dead or alive? For if anything happens to this 
Philip, you will immediately raise up another." 

Cicero in his defense of Cluentius de- 
nounces Stalenus who had received a large 
sum of money from one Oppianicus to bribe 
the judges, and represents him as talking to 
himself, as follows: 

" When the poor perfidious wretch saw so large a sum 
of money laid up in his house, he began to revolve in his 
mind every sort of cunning and fraud. Said he, must I 
give it to the judges? In that case what shall I get my- 
self but damage and infamy? Can 1 contrive no means 
by which Oppianicus must be condemned? Why not? 
There is nothing in the world that cannot be managed 



102 EHETOEIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

somehow. If any chance delivers him from danger, must 
I not return the money ? Let us then drive him on head- 
long and crush him in utter ruin." 

Cicero m his defense of P. Sylla, nephew 
of the dictator of the same name, who was 
being tried for treason; said: 

"When the conspiracy was at its height, when Cataline 
was starting for the army, and Lentulus was being left in 
the city, where, 0, Cornelius, was Sylla ? Was he at Rome ? 
No, he was far away. Was he in those districts to which 
Cataline was hastening? No, he was at Naples." 

The following from the speech of Patrick 
Henry before the Virginia House of Burgess 
in opposition to British encroachments, 
equals, if it does not excel in spirit and en- 
ergy, the best efforts of antiquity: 

"Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the 
world to call for all this accumulation of navies and ar- 
mies? No sir, she has none. They are meant for us; 
they can be meant for no other. * * Shall we try 
argument ? We have been trying that for the last ten 
years. * * Shall we resort to entreaty and humble 
supplication ? What terms shall we find which have been 
not already exhausted? * * The war is inevitable, 
and let it come. I repeat it, let it come. * * Gentle- 
men may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war is 
actually begun ! The next gale that s weeps from the north 
will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! Our 
brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 103 

idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would 
they have ? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be pur- 
chased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Al- 
mighty God I I know not what course others may take ; 
but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." 

Remarking upon the foregoing extract 
from the speech of Demosthenes, Longinus, 
in his treatise on the sublime; says: 

"This method of questioning and answering to one's 
self, imitates the quick emotions of a passion in its birth, 
* * and is of wonderful efficiency in prevailing upon 
the hearer, and imposing upon him a belief, that those 
things wliich are studied and labored, are uttered without 
premeditation, in the heat and fluency of discourse." 

A notable example is found in the 15th 
Psalm, which is as truthful in thought as it 
is beautiful in expression; thus: 

Question. * Lord who shall abide in Thy tabernacle ? 
Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? 

Answer. "He that walketh uprighly, and worketh 
righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart : he that 
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his 
neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor : 
in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoreth 
them that fear the Lord: lie that sweareth to his own 
hurt, and chaugeth not: he that putteth not out his 
money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent: 
he that doeth these things shall never be moved." 



104 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Extracts from the Koran: 

" He who taketh his lust for his God ; canst thou be his 
guardian ? They are no other than like the brute cattle. 
Dost thou not consider the works of the Lord, how He 
stretched forth the shadows before sunrise? If He 
had pleased He would have made it immovable forever." 
4c * ****** 

" "Woe unto every slanderer and backbiter, who heapeth 
up riches and prepareth for the time to come. He think- 
eth that his riches will render him immortal. By no 
means. He shall surely be cast into al Hotama. And 
what is al Hotama ? It is the kindled fire of God." 



"What thinkest thou of him who denieth the future 
judgment as falsehood? It is he who pusheth away the 
orphan, and stirreth not up others to feed the poor. Woe 
be unto those who pray, and play the hypocrite, and deny 
necessaries to the needy." Koran. 

"What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed 
shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? 
A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they that wear 
soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out 
for to see ? A prophet ? yea, I say unto you, and more 
than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, 
' Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall 
prepare thy way before thee.' " Matthew, Ch. 11, vs. 7, 8, 9 t 
10. 

"Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou 
find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is as high as 
Heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what 
canst thou know ? Job, Ch. 11. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 105 

"The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and 
cried through the lattices: Why is his chariot so long In 
coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Her 
wise ladies answered her, yea; she returned answer to her- 
self; have they not sped ? have they not divided the prey ; 
to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers 
colors, a prey of divers colors of needle-work, of divers 
colors of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of 
them that take the spoil ? So let all thine enemies perish 
O Lord ; but let them that love Him be as the sun when 
he goeth forth in his might." Judges, Ch. 5. 

"And I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying 
unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I 
answered, who art thou Lord? And he said unto me, I 
am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. And I 
said, what shall I do Lord? And the Lord said unto me, 
arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told 
thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do." 

■ King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? I know 
that thou believest." 

" But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord 
hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, 
that she should not have compassion on the son of her 
womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee" 
Isaiah, Ch. 49. 

" What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin 
that grace may abound ? God forbid. How shall we that 
are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Know ye not 
that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ 
were baptised into his death ?" Romans, Ch. 6. 



106 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

"Else what shall they do which are baptised for the 
dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are we then baptised 
for the dead? * * * But some will say how are 
the dead raised up ? and with what body do they come ? 
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except 
it die. * * * So also is the resurrection of the dead. 
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. * * 
* * It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It 
is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There 
is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. * * * 
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
mortal must put on immortality. So when this corrupti- 
ble shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall 
have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the 
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 
O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy vic- 
tory?" 



Bridaine, an eminent French clergyman 
of the last century, in a sermon on eternity; 
thus: 

"What foundation, my brethren, have you for supposing 
your dying day at such a distance? Is it your youth? 
' Yes/ you answer, ' I am as yet but twenty, but thirty.' 
Sirs, it is not you who are twenty or thirty years old ; it is 
death which has advanced twenty or thirty years towards 
you. Observe ; Eternity approaches. Do you know what 
this eternity is ? It is a pendulum whose vibration says 
continually, — always — ever — ever— always — always ! In 
the meanwhile a reprobate cries out, 'What o'clock is it?' 
and the same voice answers, Eternity." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 107 

Massillon, another eloquent French clergy- 
man of the last century, in a sermon, " On 
the mixture of the righteous and the wicked"; 
thus: 

"The righteous deprive iniquity of every excuse. Do 
you say you have done no more than to follow established 
precedents ? But have the righteous who are among you 
conformed to them ? Do you plead the unavoidable con- 
sequences of illustrious descent ? You know some, who 
with a name more distinguished than your own, impart 
sanctity to splendor. Do you plead the vivacity of your 
years ? the weakness of your sex ? Every day will show 
you some who, in the bloom of youth, and with all the 
talents suited to this world, have their minds supremely 
bent on Heaven. Is it the distraction of business ? You 
may see those engaged in the same cares with yourself, 
who, notwithstanding, make salvation their principal con- 
cern. Is pleasure your delight? Pleasure is the first desire 
of all men, and of the righteous, in some of whom it is 
even stronger, and whose natural dispositions are less 
favorable to virtue than in you. Do you plead your afflic- 
tions? There are some good men distressed. Or pros- 
perity ? There are those to be met with who, amid their 
abundance, devote themselves to God. Or the state of 
your health ? You discover some, who, in sickly bodies, 
possess souls filled with divine fortitude. Turn yourself 
which way you will, as many righteous, as many the wit- 
nesses, which testify against you." 

From the same author last copied from: 

" Who has assured you that death will not surprise you 
in the midst of those years which you intend to devote to 
the world and your passions? Upon what foundation I 



108 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

ask you, do you promise yourself that age shall change 
your heart, and incline you to embrace a new life ? Did 
age change the heart of Solomon ? No, it was then that his 
passions became most violent, that his miserable frailty 
became most scandalous. Did age prepare Saul for his 
conversion ? "No, it was then to his other errors he added 
superstition, impiety, hardness of heart, and despair. 
* * * Is your youth so precious that it may not be 
consecrated to the Supreme Being ? Are you to reserve 
for Him only the remains of your life, and the dregs of 
your passions ? If you act thus it will be as if you said to 
Him, 'Lord so long as the world shall be pleased with me 
I will devote myself to it. When it begins to neglect and 
forsake me, I will turn towards Thee, then I will say to 
Thee, Lo, I am here.' * * Ah ! unworthy soul, who 
thus treatest God with such mockery and insult, dost thou 
believe that, in thy necessity, He will deign to accept the 
homage that is thus forced upon Him ; the homage that is 
as disgraceful to His glory as it is hateful in His sight." 

Junius concerning Lord Mansfield: 

" Lord Hillsborough wisely confines his firmness to the 
distant Americans. The designs of Mansfield are more 
subtle, more effectual, and secure. 

"Who attacks the liberty of the press? Lord Mans- 
field. 

"Who invades the constitutional power of juries? 
Lord Mansfield. 

"What judge ever challenged a juryman but Lord 
Mansfield? 

"Who is it makes commissioners of the great seal? 
Lord Mansfield. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 109 

"Who is it that forms a decree for those commissioners, 
deciding against Lord Chatham, and afterwards, finding 
himself opposed by the judges, declares in parliament, 
that he never had a doubt that the law was in direct op- 
position to that decree ? Lord Mansfield. 

" Who is he that has made it the study and practice of 
his life to undermine and alter the whole system of juris- 
prudence in the court of king's bench? Lord Mansfield. 

" There never existed a man but himself who answered 
exactly to so complicated a description." 



THE ORATION ON THE CROWN. 

Demosthenes and iEschines were the two 
great orators of ancient Athens, and belong- 
ing to different political parties, they al- 
lowed their rivalry to run into deep personal 
ill-will and hatred. Demosthenes had pros- 
ecuted ^Eschines on a charge of mal-conduct 
during an embassy to Macedon, and which, 
though he (iEschines) was acquitted, greatly 
irritated him, and he watched for an oppor- 
tunity to retaliate, which he found in the 
act of Ctesiphon, a partisan of Demosthenes. 

Ctesiphon in order to compliment and 
honor Demosthenes, presented a decree to 
the senate, to be subsequently ratified by a 
popular assembly, reciting generally the 
public merits of Demosthenes, and specially 



110 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

a particular thing lie had done for the good 
of the public, and ordering that a golden 
crown (consisting of a chaplet of olive in- 
terwoven with gold) should be conferred 
upon him by public authority; it being a 
custom at Athens to confer such crown 
upon a citizen who had performed for the 
republic some important service or services. 

There was a law of Athens which pun- 
ished severely whoever proposed a decree 
which contained a falsehood or falsehoods, 
and iEschines instigated by ill-will to De- 
mosthenes, immediately instituted a prose- 
cution against Ctesiphon, alleging, that the 
statements in his said decree in favor of the 
services and merits of Demosthenes were 
not true, but were falsehoods. 

The prosecution was nominally against 
Ctesiphon, but its merits related to Demos- 
thenes, because it more or less involved the 
whole history of his private and public life, 
and Demosthenes accepted the issue and 
took the defense of Ctesiphon upon himself. 

The prosecution was commenced eight 
years before the trial occured, which gave 
ample time for preparation for trial. 

The trial was had before five hundred 
judges specially appointed for the occasion, 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. Ill 

and the tribunal was surrounded by an im- 
mense crowd of the respective partisans of 
JEschines and Demosthenes; also learned 
men were there present from all the then 
parts of the civilized world, to witness the 
contest between the two most celebrated 
orators of that period. 

Ctesiphon was acquitted, and^Eschines re- 
tired to Rhodes, where he established a 
school of oratory, which became quite fa- 
mous, and existed several hundred years 
after his time. It was there Cicero got the 
touch and finish put to his elocution and 
oratory. 

Fortunately, the speeches of iEschines and 
Demosthenes concerning the crown, have es- 
caped the ravages of time, and display 
everything that is eloquent, great and grand 
in oratory; and the student who desires to 
excel in oratory should study them thor- 
oughly, not indeed, to approve or imitate 
the personal invectives in which they 
abound (which in modern times would be 
regarded as in bad taste), but to learn by ex- 
ample the appropriate parts of a speech, and 
to properly appreciate the beauty and 
strength of true oratory. 

For further illustration of the figure under 



112 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

consideration, a few examples from the 
speeches just referred to, are as follows: 

From ^Eschines: 

"The Lacedaemonians, in conjunction with their foreign 
troops had gained a victory, and cut to pieces the Mace- 
donian forces near Carragus ; the Eleans had gone over 
to their party, and all the Achseans, except the people of 
Pellene ; all Arcadia, also, except the Great City ; and this 
was beseiged, and every day expected to be taken. Alex- 
ander was at a distance farther than the pole ; almost be- 
yond the limits of the habitable world; Antipater had 
been long employed in collecting his forces, and the event 
was utterly uncertain. 

"In this juncture, say Demosthenes, what were your 
actions ? What were your speeches ? If you please I will 
come down and give you an opportunity of informing us. 
But you are silent. Well, then, I will show some tender- 
ness to your hesitation, and I myself will tell the Assem- 
bly how you then spoke. * * * He rose up and cried, 
'Some men are pruning the city; they are lopping the 
tendrils of the state ; they cut through the sinews of our 
affairs; we are packed up and matted; they thread us 
like needles.' 

" Thou abandoned wretch ! What language is this ? Is 
it natural or monstrous ? Again you writhed and twisted 
your body round in the gallery, and cried out, as if you 
really exerted all your zeal against Alexander. ■ I confess 
that I prevailed on the Lacedaemonians to revolt ; that I 
brought over the Thessalians and Perriheans.' 

" Influence the Thessalians ! Could you influence a single 
village,— you who in time of danger never ventured to 
stir from the city ; no ; not from your own house ? Indeed, 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 113 

where any money is to l>e obtained, there you are ever 
ready to seize your prey, but utterly incapable of any ac- 
tion worthy of a man. If fortune favors us with - 
instances of success, then, indeed, be assumes the merit 
to himself; he ascribes it to his own address; if some 
danger alarms us he flies; if our fears are quieted, he de- 
mands rewards, he expects golden crowns. 
******* * * 

" "When this perjured man comes to demand credit to 
his oaths, remind him of this, that he who hath frequently 
sworn falsely, and yet expects to be believed on his oath, 
should be favored by one of these two circumstances, of 
which Demosthenes finds neither,— his gods must be new, 
or his auditors different. As to his tears, as to his pas- 
sionate exertions of voice, when he cries out, 'Whither 
shall I fly, ye men of Athens ? You banish me from the 
city, and, alas! I have no place of refuge'; let this be 
your reply; 'and where shall the people find refuge? 
What provision of allies? What treasures are prepared? 
What resources hath your administration secured? We 
all see what precautions you have taken for your own se- 
curity, you who have left the city, not, as you pretend, to 
take up your residence in the Piraeus, but to seize the first 
favorable moment of flying from your country; you who 
to quiet all your dastardly fears, have ample provision 
secured in the gold of Persia, and all the bribes of your 
administration." 

From Demosthenes' 

" Here is a decree which .Eschines hath never mentioned, 

never quoted. But beeause I moved in the senate that 

the ambassadors of ICacedon should be introduced, he in- 

dnst me as highly criminal. What should I have 

done? Was I to move that they should not be introduced? 



114 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

the men who came purposely to treat with us? Was I to 
forbid that any seats should be appointed for them in the 
theatre ? Why they might have purchased seats, at the 
common trifling price. Was I to show my concern for 
Athens by such minute savings, while, like him and his 
accomplices, I sold our capital interests to Philip ? Xo I 
Take my decree, which he though well acquainted with it. 
hath passed over in silence. Read. 

* * ******* 

"No! had one of the awful judges of the shades im- 
peached me, — an iEacus, or a Rhodamanthus, or a Minos, 
and not this babbling sycophant, this wretched, hackneyed 
scrivener, he could have used no such language, he could 
have searched for no such insolent expressions, no such 
theatrical exclamations as you have now heard from this 
man. ' Earth ! and thou Sun ! Virtue ! ' And again, 
those pompous invocations,—' Prudence ! Erudition ! that 
teaches us the just distinction between good and evil!' 
Virtue! thou miscreant! What communion can virtue 
hold with thee or thine ? What acquaintance hast thou 
with such things ? How didst thou acquire it ? By what 
right canst thou assume it? And what pretensions hast 
thou to speak of erudition? Not a man of those who 
really possess it, could thus presume to speak of his own 
accomplishments. And here I hesitate, not for want of 
matter to urge against you and your family, but because 
I am in doubt where to begin. 

* * ******* 
" To you, ye judges, the detail must be tedious and dis- 
gusting. Before I had uttered one word you were well 
informed of his prostitution. He calls it friendship and 
intimate connection. Thus hath he just now expressed it ; 
4 He who reproaches me with the intimacy of Alexander ! ' 
I reproach thee with the intimacy of Alexander !— how 
couldst thou aspire to it? I could never call thee the 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 116 

friend of Philip; no, nor the intimate of Alexander. I 
am not so mad, unless we are to call those menial ser- 
vants who labor for their wages the friends and intimates 
of those who hire them. But how can this be V Impossi- 
ble! No! I formerly called you the hireling of Philip; 
I now call you the hireling of Alexander ; and so do all 
these our fellow citizens. If you doubt it ask them, or I 
shall ask them for you. Ye citizens of Athens, do you 
account iEschines the hireling or the intimate of Alex- 
ander ? * * * You hear their answer."* 



Brutus. Remember March, the ides of March re- 
member! 
Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake? 
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, 
And not for justice? What, shall one of us, 
That struck the foremost man of all this world, 
But for supporting robbers; shall we now 
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes? 
And sell the mighty space of our large honors, 
For so much trash, as may be grasped thus? — 
I had rather be a dog and bay the moon, 
Than such a Roman." 



Pollock in his "Course of Time," uses this 
figure with singular beauty and forcibleness 
in drawing a comparison between a good 
spent and bad spent life, in regard to their 
relative enjoyments and pleasures of the 



• Note.— The answer which the audience gave to the question of Demos- 
thenes concerning iEschines, is not stated in the original; but tho proba- 
bility is, that the crowd, or the larger portion of the crowd, who were evi- 
dently on the aide of Demosthenes, shouted in reply the word, "hireling." 



116 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

world. He puts the question concerning 
their relative pleasures, thus: 

" Whether the righteous man or sinner had 
The greatest share, and relished them the most?" 

He answers: 

"Truth gives the answer thus, gives it distinct, 
Nor needs to reason long ; the righteous man." 

He then recapitulates the pleasures of the 
righteous man, mostly in the interrogative 
style, interspersed with numerous reflections 
in the didactic style, as follows: 

"For what was he denied of earthly growth, 
Worthy the name of good ? Truth answers naught. 
Had he not appetite, and sense, and will ? 
Might he not eat, if Providence allowed, 
The finest of the wheat ? Might he not drink 
The choicest wine ? True, he was temperate ; 
But, then, was temperance a foe to peace ? 
Might he not ride, and clothe himself in gold ? 
Ascend, and stand in palaces of kings ? 
True he icas honest still, and charitable; 
Were, then, these virtues foes to human peace ? 
Might he not do exploits, and gain a name ? 
Most true, he trode not down a fellow's right, 
Nor walked up to a throne on slculls of men; 
Were justice, then, and mercy, foes to peace? 
Had he not friendships, loves, and smiles, and hopes ? 
Sat not around his table sons and daughters ? 
Was not his ear with music pleased ? His eye 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 117 

"With light? His nostrils with perfumes? His lips 
With pleasant relishes ? Grew not his herds ? 
Pell not the rain upon his meadows ? Reaped 
He not his harvests ? And did not his heart 
Revel at will, through all the charities, 
And sympathies of nature, unconfined? 
And were not these all sweetened and sanctified 
By dews of holiness, shed from above ? 
Might he not walk through Fancy's airy halls ? 
Might he not History's ample page survey ? 
Might he not, finally, explore the depths 
Of mental, moral, natural, divine ? 
But why enumerate thus ? One word enough. 
There was no joy in all created things, 
No drop of sweet, that turned not in the end 
To sour, of which the righteous man did not 
Partake; partake, invited by the voice 
Of God, his Father's voice, who gave him all 
His heart's desire; and o'er the sinner still, 
The christian had this one advantage more, 
That when his earthly pleasures failed— and fail 
They always did to every soul of man- 
He set his hopes on high, looked up and reached 
His sickle forth, and reaped the yields of heaven, 
And plucked the clusters from the vines of God" 



The figure of speech called, " Interroga- 
tion," is closely connected in idea with the 
rhetorical dialogue; but there is this differ- 
ence between them, that to the interrogation 
in its common form, an answer is neither 
expected nor given, as a few examples will 
illustrate: 



118 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

1. From the answer of Balaam to the 
king of Moab: 

" God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of 
man that He should repent. Hath He said it, and shall 
He not do it ? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make 
it good?" 

2. From the Book of Job: 

" Hast thou an arm like God ? Or canst thou thunder 
with a voice like him." 

3. From a speech in a criminal prosecu- 
tion: 

" Has it not been proved beyond all reasonable doubt 
that defendant perpetrated the crime imputed to bim? 
Does not the evidence show that he was angry at deceased 
and had threatened him with personal violence ? Was he 
not seen in the vicinity where the crime was perpetrated, 
and at or about the time it was done ? Did not the shoes 
fouDd on him agree in size with the marks of shoes in- 
dented in the ground going to and coming from where the 
remains of the deceased were found ? Were not stains of 
blood found on his clothes which he has failed to account 
for ? And more than all, was not a watch found on his 
person proved to have belonged to deceased? With all 
these facts and circumstances shown by the evidence, who 
can doubt the guilt of the accused ? " 

4. From Shakespeare's play of Julius 
Caesar: 

" Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, 
than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen?" 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. Ill) 

5. From Junius: 

The author of Junius indulged in terrible 
bitterness of expression by interrogations in 
his attack on Lord Granby, in reply to Sir 
William Draper, who had volunteered his 
defense; thus: 

" It is you, Sir William, who make your friend appear 
awkward and ridiculous, by giving him a laced suit of 
tawdry qualifications which nature never intended him to 
wear. You say he has acquired nothing but honor in the 
field. Is the ordnance nothing ? Are the Blues nothing ? 
Is the command of the army with all the patronage an- 
nexed to it nothing ? * * Did he not betray the just 
interest of the army in permitting Lord Percy to have a 
regiment? And does he not at this moment give up all 
character and dignity as a gentleman, in receding from 
his own repeated declarations in favor of Mr. Wilkes ? " 

6. From the first speech of Cicero against 
Cataline: 

"How far, Cataline, wilt thou abuse our patience? 
How long shall thy frantic rage baffle the ends of justice? 
To what height meanest thou to carry thy daring inso- 
lence? Art thou not daunted by the nocturnal watch 
posted to secure the Palatium? Nothing by the city 
guards? nothing by the consternation of the people? 
nothing by the union of all the wise and worthy citizens? 
nothing by the senate's assembling in this place of 
strength ? nothing by the looks and countenances of all 
here present? Seest thou not that all thy designs are 
brought to light? that the senators are thorougly apprized 
of thy conspiracy? that they are acquainted with thy last 



120 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

night's practices ; with the practices of the night before ; 
with the place of meeting; the company summoned to- 
gether and the measures concerted ? Alas, for our degen- 
eracy ! alas, for the depravity of the times! " 

7. St. John Chrysostom, a father of the 
church of the 4th century, made in his youth 
a special study of oratory, and ultimately be- 
came the most eloquent speaker of his day. 
He was scarcely, if at all, inferior to Cicero in 
force of thought and liveliness of expression, 
and like him often indulged in figurative 
expressions. Eutropas was a patrician, and 
had been consul and great chamberlain to 
the Emperor Arcadius. He lived in a style 
of regal magnificence, and was arrogant in 
the use of authority. Falling into disfavor 
with the emperor, he was removed from au- 
thority, sent to prison, and his life imper- 
iled. Chrysostom, seized on the occasion 
of the minister's downfall, to discourse on 
the vanity of human life, as follows: 

"'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.' Where is now the 
splendor of the consulate? where the lictors and their 
fasces ? where the applauses, dances, banquets, and revels ? 
where the noise of the city, and the nattering acclama- 
tions of the circus ? All those things are perished ; a bois- 
terous wind has blown away the leaves, and left the naked 
tree tottering, and almost plucked up by the roots. Such 
was the violence of the storm, that when it had shaken all 






FIGURES OF SPEECH. 121 

the nerves, it threatened utterly to overthrow the stock. 
Where are now those masking friends, those health, and 
suppers? Where that swarm of parasites, and that flood 
of wine poured out from morning till evening? Where 
that exquisite and various artifice of cooks, those servants 
accustomed to say and do all that he pleased? All these 
were no more than a night's dream, which disappeared 
with the day; flowers which withered when the spring 
was ended; a shadow they were and so they passed; a 
smoke, and so they vanished; bubbles in the water, and so 
they burst ; spiders' webs, and they were torn asunder. 
'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' * * Who was 
more exalted than this man? Was he not famous for his 
wealth through the world? Was he not mounted up to 
the height of all human honor ? did not all fear and rev- 
erence him? But behold him now more miserable than 
slaves and bondsmen ; more indigent than those who beg 
their bread from door to door. There is no day when 
there is not set before his eyes swords drawn and sharp- 
ened to cut his throat ; precipices, hangmen, and the street 
which leads to the gallows. 'Vanity of vanities, all is 
vanity.'" 

8. From the writings of an ancient Brah- 
min: 

" Who is like unto the Lord in glory ? Who in power 
shall contend with the Almighty? Hath He any equal in 
wisdom ? Can any in goodness be compared unto Him ? ' 

Socrates taught his disciples in dialogues, 
in which his questions were so discreetly 
put. that the answers thereto necessarily 
compelled an admission of the truths im- 



122 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

plied in them, or had to rest on error or 
absurdity; and lawyers who would excel in 
the examination of witnesses, would do well 
to study the dialogues of Socrates as related 
in Plato and Xenophon. 

Lawyers frequently become wearisome to 
both court and jury by unnecessary repeti- 
tions of the same idea or ideas in the narra- 
tive or didactic style. If they fear that they 
have not been properly understood by what 
they have once said in the common mode of 
expression, it is better to repeat the idea in 
the interrogative form, when its novelty 
and change of language will be very apt to 
arrest attention, and secure impartial hear- 
ers. 

Indeed, a lengthy speech, whether at the 
bar, or elsewhere, shows defective judgment, 
and should always be carefully avoided. 

Cicero said: 

"An orator should speak concisely lest he shall become 
wearisome, and brevity is the best recommendation of a 
speech." 

Confucius said to his disciples when he 
sent them forth to teach: 

" Let your speeches be short, that the remembrance of 
them may be long." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 123 

The Nazarene advised His disciples to 
make short prayers, and be not like the 
heathens, who thought they would be heard 
for their much talk. 

Pope expresses himself thus: 

"Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks, 
And still looks home and short excursion makes, 
But rattling nonsense in full volley breaks." 

Washington advised his nephew who was 
a member of the Virginia House of Burgess, 
to make short speeches, to be modest in his 
address, and to confine his remarks closely 
to the subject under consideration. 

Jefferson said he had been a colleague of 
both Franklin and Washington in the Con- 
tinental Congress, and he never knew either 
of them to speak over ten minutes at one 
time, and what they said was directed sim- 
ply to the main point of the matter under 
discussion. 

Cicero in his speech for M. Tullius, appeals 
to Lucius Quintius, the opposing advocate, 
to put some limit to the length of his speech, 
as follows: 

"One thing, Lucius Quintius. 1 should wish to obtain 
from you, which, although I desire it because it is useful 



124 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

for me, still I request of you because it is reasonable and 
just— that you would regulate the time that you take to 
yourself for speaking, so as to leave the judges some time 
for coming to a decision. For the night before, there was 
no end to your speech in his defense; night alone set 
bounds to your oration. Now, if you please, do not do the 
same ; this I beg of you. Nor do I beg it on this account, 
because I think it desirable for me that you should pass 
over some topics, or that you should fail to state them 
with sufficient elegance, and at sufficient length, but be- 
cause I do think it enough for you to state each fact only 
once. And if you do that, I have no fear that the whole 
day mill be taken up in talking." 

9. Interrogation. 

The interrogation. was rather fully consid- 
ered under the head of "Rhetorical Dia- 
logue," in consequence of its near relation- 
ship to that figure of speech, and I will only 
add here concerning it, that it is a very ener- 
getic mode of expression, and is often indul- 
ged in by impassioned speakers, of which 
Patrick Henry and Mr. Clay amongst the 
modern, and Cicero and Demosthenes with 
the ancients, are striking examples. 

10. Personification. 

Personification is a very bold expression, 
as it attributes life and sensibility to inani- 



FIGURES OF SPEECn. 125 

mate objects. The following are examples 
of it: 

" The ground thirsts for rain." 
" The earth smiles with plenty." 

Here life and action are attributed to 
ground and earth. 

Shakespeare in his play of Julius Caesar, 
causes Antony to address the dead body of 
the tyrant as though it were listening to 
him; thus: 

"O pardon me thou bleeding piece of earth, 
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ; 
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man, 
That ever lived in the tide of time." 

From Ossian: 

" The sword of Gaul trembles at his side, and longs to 
glitter in his hand." 



From Thompson's seasons: 

" See Winter comes to rule the varied year. 
Sullen and sad, with all his rising train, 
Vapors, and clouds, and storms." 



From the Iliad: 

"Ab when old Ocean roars, 
And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores.' 



126 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

From Milton: 

"With such delay 
Well pleased, they slack their course, and many a league, 
Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles" 

From Lucan's Pharsalia: 

" But a greater power was there in the Grecian weapons 
against the Roman bodies. For the lance not content to 
pass through but one side, did not cease its course, but 
opening a way through both arms and through bones left 
death behind and flies on ; after the wound a career still 
remains for the weapon." 

" The mountains look on Marathon— 

And Marathon looks on the sea ; 
And musing there an hour alone, 

I dreamed that Greece might still be free ; 
For standing on the Persian's grave 

I could not deem myself a slave." 

David in his poetic lamentation over the 
deaths of Saul and Jonathan, gives scope to 
his imagination as follows: 

" From the blood of the slain the bow of Jonathan turned 
not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty." 

Sophocles in his tragedy of Philoctetes, 
causes his hero to address material objects 
near him, in the following plaintive expres- 
sions: 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 127 

"Ye harbors, ye promontories, ye haunts of the mount- 
ain beasts, ye precipitous crags, to you I speak, for I know 
none else to whom I might. I bewail to you the deeds, of 
the son of Achilles, how cruel he hath been to me." 



The same author, again: 

"Beam of the sun that hath shone the fairest light of all 
before to seven-gated Thebes ; thou hast at length gleamed 
forth, oh ! eye of golden day ! " 



I have often admired a beautiful personifi- 
cation of "night" to be found in "Hervey's 
Meditations;" thus: 

" The darkness is now at its height, and I cannot but 
admire the obliging manner of its taking place. It comes 
not with a blunt and abrupt incivility, but makes gentle 
and respectful advances. A precipitate transition from 
the splendors of day to all the horrors of midnight would 
be inconvenient and frightful. * * Therefore the 
gloom rushes not upon us instantaneously, but increases 
by slow degrees; and sending twilight before as its har- 
binger, decently advertises us of its approach." 

From the speech of the Doge of Venice 
on his trial before the Council of Ten, in 
Byron's Marino Faliero: 

" Doge. I speak to Time and to Eternity, 
Of which I grow a portion, not to man. 
Ye elements! in which to be resolved 
I hasten, let my voice be as a spirit 
Upon you ! Ye blue waves ! which bore my banner, 



128 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Ye winds! which fluttered o'er as if you loved it, 

And filled my swelling sails as they were wafted 

To many a triumph ! Thou my native earth, 

Which I have bled for, and thou foreign earth, 

Which drank this willing blood from many a wound ! 

Ye stones, in which my gore will not sink, but 

Reek up to Heaven! Ye skies which will receive it! 

Thou sun! which shinest on these things, and Thou 

Who kindlest and who quenchest suns! Attest! 

I am not innocent — but are these guiltless ? 

I perish, but not unavenged ; for ages 

Float up from the abyss of time to be, 

And show these eyes, before they close, the doom 

Of this proud city ; and I leave my curse 

On her and hers forever." 



From Goldsmith: 

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale and midway meets the storm, 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 



From Hudibras: 

" The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty. 
For want of fighting, was grown rusty, 
And ate into itself, for lack 
Of somebody to hew and hack." 



From Rogers: 

"Lo, steel-clad War his gorgeous standard rears!" 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 129 

From Shakespeare: 

"King Henry. How many thousands of my poorest 

subjects, 

Are at this hour asleep ! Sleep, gentle sleep, 

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, 

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, 

And steep my senses in f orgetf ulness ; 

Why rather, sleep, liest thou in sueky cribs, 

Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, 

And hushed with buzzing night flies to thy slumber; 

Than in the perfumed chambers of the great, 

Under the canopies of costly state, 

And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody ? 

O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile 

In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch, 

A watch case to a common 'larum bell? 

Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast, 

Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains 

In cradle of the rude impetuous surge; 

And in the visitation of the winds, 

Who take the ruffian billows by the top, 

Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them 

With deafening clamors in the slippery shrouds, 

That with a hurly death itself awakes? 

Canst thou, partial sleep, give thy repose 

To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude 

And, in the calmest and most stillest night 

With all appliances and means to boot, 

Deny it to a king? Then, happy low! lie down; 

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 
> 

From Milton: 

lying, her rash hand in evil hour 
Forth reaching t<» the fruit, she plucked, she ate. 
9 



130 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Earth felt the wound, and Xature, from her seat 
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe 
That all was lost." 



From Percival: 

" The world is full of poetry. The air 
Is living with its spirit ; and the waves 
Dance to the music of its melodies, 
And sparkle in its brightness." 

" THE KE AJPER AND THE FLOWERS. 

" There is a reaper whose name is Death, 
And, with his sickle keen, 
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 
And the flowers that grow between. 

•"Shall I have naught that is fair? saith he; 
Have naught but the bearded grain ? 
Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me 
I will give them all back again.' 

H He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, 
He kissed their drooping leaves ; 
It was for the Lord of Paradise, 
He bound them in his sheaves. 

" 'My Lord hath need of these flowers gay/ 
The Reaper said, and smiled ; 
*Dear tokens of the earth are they, 
Where he was once a child.' 

■ ■ They shall all bloom in fields of light, 
Transplanted by my care, 
And saints upon their garments white, 
These sacred blossoms wear.' 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 131 

"And the mother gave, in tears and pain, 

The flowers she most did love ; 
She knew she should find them all again, 
In the fields of light above. 

" 0, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 
The Keaper came that day; 
'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 
And took the flowers away." 

Longfellow. 

Ossian addresses the sun, and laments his 
blindness which prevents him from seeing 
its glory; thus: 

" O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my 
fathers ! Whence are thy beams, Sun ! thy everlasting 
light! Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty ; the stars 
hide themselves in the sky ; the moon, cold and pale, sinks 
in the western wave; but thou thyself movest alone. 
Who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the 
mountain fall; the mountains themselves decay with 
years ; the ocean shrinks and grows again ; the moon her- 
self is lost in Heaven : but thou art forever the same, re- 
joicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world 
is dark with tempests, when thunder rolls and lightning 
flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and 
laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain, 
for he beholds thy beams no more ; whether thy yellow 
hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the 
gates of the west. 

" But thou art perhaps like me for a season ; thy years 
will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in thy clouds careless 
of the voice of the morning. 

"Exult then, O Sun In the strength of thy youth! age is 



132 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

dark and unlovely ; it is like the glimmering light of the 
moon when it shines through broken clouds and the mist 
is on the hills; the blast of the north is on the plain; the 
traveler shrinks in the midst of his journev." 

The following from the pen of Iowa's 
gifted poetess, "Kate Harrington," is a 
beautiful example of the figure under con- 
sideration: 

"WHAT ARE THE SNOW-FLAKES. 

"Say, whence come the snow-flakes— the pure, fleecy 
snow-flakes, 
That flutter so softly, so tremblingly by ? 
Are they foam from the ocean of ether above us, 

Or petals from roses that blow in the sky ? 
Do seraphs who wander beside the still waters, 

Or linger, entranced, in fair bowers above, 
Keep culling the leaves of the blossoms around them 
To scatter them earthward as tokens of love ? 

"Are they down that the beautiful angel of summer, 

At parting, so noiselessly shakes from her wings ? 
Or heralds sent forth by the glittering Frost King 

To tell of the jewels he so lavishly brings ? 
Oh! I sometimes half dream, as I watch the flakes 
falling, 
That 'tis Purity's self gliding down from the skies, 
'Till meeting our earth-damps of sin and pollution, 
They melt her to tears and of pity she dies." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 133 

" Love," as one of the chief influences of 
the human mind, is beautifully personified 
by Scott's "Last Minstrel"; thus: 

" In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed, 
In war, he mounts the warrior's steed ; 
In halls, in gay attire is seen, 
In hamlets, dances on the green. 
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
And man below and saints above ; 
For love is heaven, and heaven is love." 

Byron personifies the ocean, and addresses 
it in the following expressive words and sub- 
lime thoughts: 

" Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean— roll ! 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; 
Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 
Stops with the shore ;— upon the watery plain 
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain 
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, 
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, 
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, 
Without a grave, unknelled, uncomned, and unknown." 



1 Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form, 
Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time, 
Calm or convulsed— in breeze, or gale, or storm, 
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime 
Dark-heaving ; boundless, endless, and sublime — 
The image of Eternity— the throne 
Of the Invisible ; even from out thy slime 



134 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

The monsters of the deep are made ; each zone 
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone." 

"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon, in 
the valley of Ajalon." Joshua x, 12. 

The application of sex to what belongs in 
strict language to the neuter gender, is a 
frequent source of personified expression. 
We say of the sun, he shines by the inherent 
power of his own light, and of the moon, she 
shines by reflection of the sun's rays. The 
earth, a country, a city, a ship, while criti- 
cally neuter in language, are most frequently 
spoken of under a feminine designation. In 
strict language the term "virtue" is neuter 
in gender, and yet in rhetorical language it 
is often personified. 

Example. 

" Virtue descends from Heaven— she alone confers true 
honor upon man— her gifts are the only durable rewards.'' 

11. Vision. 

Rhetoric attaches to the term "vision," a 
meaning somewhat different from its com- 
mon acceptation. In rhetoric it implies 
something is taking place now, which in 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 135 

fact belongs to the past, or it represents 
something as present to the mind now, 
which is anticipated of the future. 



Examples. 

"The cries of the victims of savage vengeance, have 
already reached us! Already they seem to sigh in the 
western wind. Already they mingle with every echo 
from the mountains." 



Cioero in one of his orations against the 
Cataline conspirators, says: 

" I seem to behold this city, the light of the universe, 
and the citadel of all nations, suddenly involved in flames. 
I figure to myself my country in ruins, and the miserable 
bodies of slaughered citizens, lying in heaps without bur- 
ial. The image of Cethegus furiously revelling in your 
blood is now before my eyes." 

In Campbell's poem entitled "Lochiel's 
Warning," is a most thrilling example of 
this figure, commencing with the lines, 

" Lochiel ! Lochiel ! beware of the day, 

When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array, 
For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight, 
And the clans of Culloden are scattered in flight." 



136 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Voluinnia, in Coriolanus, act 1, scene 3, 
addresses the wife of her son, thus: 

"MethinTcs, I hear hither your husband's drum, 
See him pluck Aufidens down by the hair ; 
Methinks, I see him stamp thus, and call thus- 
Come on you cowards, you were got in fear, 
Though you were born in Rome. His bloody brow, 
With his mailed hand then wiping, forth he goes." 

"Andromache— thy griefs I dread: 
I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led." 

"Soldiers! from yonder pyramids forty centuries look 
down upon you." 

"I see the dagger crest of Mar, 
I see the Moray's silver star 
Wave o'er the clouds of Saxon war, 
That up the lake comes winding far." 



"I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep 
that have not a shepherd." 



12. Apostrophe. 

Apostrophe is an address to some absent 
or dead person as if he were present and 
listening to us, and sometimes refers to a 
personified object. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 137 

Examples. 

" Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither 
let there be rain upon you." * * * "Ye daughters of 
Israel, weep over Saul who clothed you in scarlet." 

"Washington, immortal spirit! revisit and save thy 
country." 

" death where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy 
victory ? " 

" O you leaden messengers, 
That ride upon the violent speed of fire, 
Fly with false aim ; pierce the still moving air, 
That stings with piercing ; do not touch my lord." 

"Brutus. O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet! 
Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords 
In our own proper entrails." 



" Oh, Hesperus ! thou bringest all good things- 
Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer, 
To the young bird the parent's brooding wings, 

The welcome stall to the o'er labored steer ; 
Whate'er of peace about our hearthstone clings, 
Whate'er our household gods protect of dear, 
Are gather'd round us by thy look of rest, 
Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast.' 

Byron. 



138 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

From the speech of Eobert Emmet on his 
trial before Lord Norbury: 

" O ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, 
look down with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suf- 
fering son." 

Cicero rejoices over the death of Clodius 
in the following bitter terms: 

" Our sacred places themselves, by heavens, which saw 
this monster fall, seemed to be interested in his fate, and 
to vindicate their rights in his destruction. For you, ye 
Alban mounts and groves, I implore and attest, ye demol- 
ished altars of the Albans. * * Upon his fall your 
altars, your rites nourished, your power prevailed, which 
he had defiled with all manner of villainy. And you, O 
venerable Jupiter ! from your lofty Latin mount, whose 
lakes, whose woods and borders, he polluted with the 
most abominable lust, and every species of guilt, at last 
opened your eyes to behold his destruction." 

Paterculus in his compendium of Roman 
history, addresses the dead triumvir, Mark 
Antony, as if he were present and listening 
to him; and reproaches him for his treat- 
ment of Cicero; thus: 

" But you have gained nothing, Mark Antony, you have 
gained nothing, I say, by paying the hire for closing those 
divine lips, and cutting off that noble head, and by pro- 
curing for a fatal reward, the death of a man, once so 
great a consul, and the preserver of the commonwealth. 
You deprived Marcus Cicero of a life full of trouble and 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 139 

of a feeble old age; an existence more unhappy under 
your ascendency, than death under your triumvirate; but 
of the fame and glory of Jiis actions and writings you have 
been so far from despoiling him, that you have even in- 
creased it. He lives and will live in the memory of all 
succeeding ages. And as long as this body of the universe, 
whether framed by chance or wisdom, or by whatever 
means, which he, almost of all the Romans penetrated 
with his genius, comprehended in his imagination, and 
illustrated by his eloquence, shall continue to exist, it will 
carry the praise of Cicero as its companion in duration. 
All posterity will admire his writings against you, and 
execrate your conduct towards him ; and sooner shall the 
race of man fail in the world, than his name decay." 

Martial in one of his epigrams, addresses 
the dead triumvir, thus: 

"O Antony, thou canst cast no reproach upon the 
Egyptian Pothinus; thou didst more injury by the mur- 
der of Cicero, than by all your proscription lists. Why 
did you draw the sword, madman, against the mouth of 
Rome! Such a crime not even Cataline himself would 
have committed. An impious soldier was corrupted by 
your accursed gold, and for so much money procured you 
the silence of a single tongue. But of what avail to you 
is the dearly bought suppression of that sacred eloquence ? 
On behalf of Cicero the whole world will speak." 

Considering that the body of the dead tri- 
umvir was hardly cold in its grave when 
these invectives were uttered, and that all 
the then civilized world was under the rule 



140 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

of the tyranny -which he had been active in 
establishing, one is at a loss whether most 
to admire the independent and fearless spirit 
of the men who thus denounced him, or the 
thrilling words of eloquence in which their 
abhorrence of his conduct is expressed. 

13. Antithesis. 

Antithesis signifies contrast or opposition 
of two or more ideas, sentiments, or concep- 
tions. It presents arguments in a very sen- 
tentious, yet energetic style. The speeches 
of eminent orators abound in the use of this 
figure. 

Examples. 

Cicero in his second speech against Cata- 
line, draws a comparison between his fol- 
lowers and those of Cataline, to the disad- 
vantage of the latter, as follows: 

" I say, if, omitting all these, we only compare the con- 
tending parties between themselves, it will soon appear 
how very low our enemies are reduced. On the one side 
modesty contends, on the other petulance ; here chastity, 
there pollution ; here integrity, there treachery ; here piety, 
there prof aneness ; here resolution, there rage ; here honor, 
there baseness; here moderation, there unbridled licen- 
tiousness; in short, equity, temperance, fortitude, pru- 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 141 

dence, struggle with iniquity, luxury, cowardice, rashness ; 
every virtue with every vice. The contest lies between 
wealth, and indigence; sound, and depraved reason; 
strength of understanding, and frenzy; between well 
grounded hope, and the most absolute despair. In such a 
conflict and struggle as this, was even human aid to fail, 
will not the immortal gods enable such illustrious virtue, 
to triumph over such complicated vice ? " 

Sallust in his history of the Jugurthine 
war, reports a speech of Marius, in hostility 
to certain of the nobility of Rome, in which 
is found the following gem of antithesis: 

"Compare now, my fellow citizens, me, who am a new 
man, with those haughty nobles. What they have but 
heard or read, I have witnessed or performed. What they 
have learned from books, I have acquired in the field. 
* * * They despise my humbleness of birth ; I con- 
temn their imbecility. My condition is made an objection 
to me ; their misconduct is a reproach to them. * * * 
They envy me the honor that I have received ; let them 
also envy me the toils, the abstinence, and the perils by 
which I obtained that honor." 

From Demosthenes in his reply to ^Eschi- 
nes in the oration on the crown: 

" Take, then, the whole course of your life, ^Esehines- 
and of mine; compare them without heat or acrimony' 
You attended on your scholars ; I was myself a scholar 
You served in the initiations; I was initiated. You were 
a performer in our public entertainments; I was the di- 
rector. You took notes of speeches; I was a speaker. 



142 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

You were a player; I was a spectator. You failed in 
your part; I hissed you. Your public conduct was de- 
voted to our enemies ; mine to my country. * * * 
Come, then ; hear me while I repeat the several attesta- 
tions of these public offices which I have discharged ; and 
in return do you repeat those verses which you spoiled in 
the delivery : 

1 Forth from the deep abyss, behold I come ! 
And the dread portal of the dusky gloom.' 

And, 

1 Know, then, howe'er reluctant I must speak 
Those evils .' 

" 0, ,may the gods inflict ' those evils ' on thee ! may these 
thy countrymen inflict them to thy utter destruction ! — 
thou enemy to Athens ! thou traitor ! " 

The proverbs of Solomon, especially the 
10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th chapters, 
abound with many beautiful and striking 
instances of antithesis, of which the follow- 
ing are examples: 

"A wise son maketh a glad father ; but a foolish son is 
the heaviness of his mother. 

"A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous 
words stir up anger. 

"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the 
righteous shall flourish as a branch. 

"The lip of truth shall be established forever; but a 
lying tongue is but for a moment. 

" When the righteous are in authority, the people re- 
joice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people 
mourn." 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 143 

Extracts from the proverbs of an ancient 
Brahmin: 

44 The hand of the generous man is like the clouds of 
Heaven, which drop upon the earth fruits, herbage, and 
flowers ; but the heart of the ungrateful is like a desert of 
sand, which swalloweth with greediness the showers that 
fall, burieth them in its bosom, and produceth nothing. 

44 The tongue of the sincere is rooted in his heart ; he 
blusheth at falsehood and is confounded ; but the heart of 
the hypocrite is hid in his breast, he masketh his words 
in the semblance of truth, while the business of his life is 
only to deceive. He passeth his days in perpetual con- 
straint ; his tongue and his heart are ever at variance. 

44 Seest thou not that the angry man looseth his under- 
standing? Do nothing in a passion. Why wilt thou put 
to sea in the violence of a storm ? 

"A fool is provoked with insolent speeches, but a wise 
man laugheth them to scorn." 

From " Pollock's Course of Time": 

44 Wisdom is humble, said the voice of God. 
' Tis proud, the world replied. Wisdom, said God, 
Forgives, forbears and suffers, not for fear 
Of man, but God, Wisdom revenges, said 
The world ; is quick and deadly of resentment, 
Thrusts at the very shadow* of affront, 
And hastes, by death, to wipe its honor clean. 
Wisdom, said God, loves enemies, entreats, 
Solicits, begs for peace. Wisdom, replied 
The world, hates enemies; will not ask peace, 
Conditions spurns, and triumphs in their fall. 
Wisdom mistrusts itself, and leans on Heaven, 
Said God. It trusts and leans upon itself, 



144 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

The world replies. Wisdom retires, said God, 
And counts it bravery to bear reproach, 
And shame, and lowly poverty upright ; 
And weeps with all who have just cause to weep. 
Wisdom, replied the world, struts forth to gaze ; 
Treads the broad stage of life with clamrous foot ; 
Attracts all praises ; counts it bravery 
Alone to wield the sword, and rush on death ; 
And never weeps but for its own disgrace. 
Wisdom, said God, is highest, when it stoops 
Lowest before the Holy Throne, throws down 
Its crown abased, forgets itself, admires, 
And breathes adoring praise. 
******** 

Thus did Almighty God, and thus the world, 
Wisdom define." 



From Goldsmith: 

" Contrasted faults through all their manners reign ; 
Though poor, luxurious ; though submissive, vain ; 
Though grave, yet trifling ; zealous, yet untrue ; 
And e'en in penance, planning sins anew." 



From a sermon of St. Chrysostom: 

"Man troubles himself, and loses his end: he troubles 
himself, consumes and melts to nothing, as if he had 
never been born ; he troubles himself, and before he at- 
tains rest, is overwhelmed ; he is inflamed like a fire, and 
is reduced to ashes like flax ; he mounts on high like a 
tempest, and like dust is scattered and disappears ; he is 
kindled like a flame, and vanishes like smoke ; he glories 
in his beauty like a flower, and withers like hay; he 
spreads himself as a cloud, and is contracted as a drop ; 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 145 

ho swells like ;i 1 nibble of water, and goes out like a 
sparkle; he is troubled and cares nothing about him but 
the tilth of riches; he is troubled only to gain dirt; he is 
troubled and dies without fruit of his vexations. His are 
the troubles, others the joys; his are the cares, others the 
contents; his are the afflictions, others the fruit; his are 
the heart-burnings, others the delights; his are the curses, 
others have the respect and reverence. * * * Man 
is lie who enjoys a life but lent him, and that but for a 
short time ; man is but a debt of death, which is to be paid 
without delay; subtle in wickedness, witty in iniquity, 
insatiable in the desire of what is anothers; a flame 
which quickly dies, a light which vanisheth into air, a 
dead leaf, withered hay, faded grass, a nature which con- 
sumes itself; to-day abounds in wealth, and is to-morrow 
in his grave; to-day hath his brows circled with a dia- 
dem, and to-morrow is with worms; he is to-day, and to- 
morrow ceases to be ; immeasurably insolent in prosperity, 
and in adversity admits no comfort; who knows not him- 
self, yet is curious in searching what is above him ; he 
who is an open house of perturbation, a game of divers 
infirmities, a concourse of daily calamities, and a recep- 
tacle of sorrow. how great is the tragedy of our base- 
ness ! " 



Seneca's compositions were usually of the 
antithetical style, of which the following 
from his treatise on .a " Happy Life," may be 
considered a fair example and illustration: 

"Whatsoever may be will be. I am to-day safe and 
happy in the love of my counry: I am to-morrow ban- 
ished; to-day in pleasure, peace, health; to-morrow broken 
upon a wheel, led in triumph, and in the agony of sick- 
10 



146 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

ness. Let us therefore prepare for a shipwreck in the 
port, and for a tempest in a cairn." 

Seneca by the constant contemplation of 
death and the world of the hereafter, had so 
educated himself, that he feared no worldly 
misfortune which is not attended with dis- 
honor; and when the imperial tyrant (his 
former pupil) sent his mandate for him to be 
put to death, he met the summons with the 
calmness of a child going to sleep on its 
mother's breast; he died as he lived teaching 
and practicing virtue. 

14. Epimone. 

" Epimone in rhetoric, signifies the press- 
ing upon some particular word or point, and 
repeating it over and over again, until it is 
made rediculous by the repetition." 

Examples. 

Mr. Sheridan in a part of his speech on 
his motion in 1793, to consider of certain 
alleged seditious practices referred to in the 
king's speech to parliament, replied to Mr. 
Wyndham, thus: 

"My friend fMr. Wyndham) has been panic struck, 
and now lie strengthens the hands of government. Xot 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 147 

later than the preceding session, he would pull off the 
mask of perfidy, and declaimed loudly against that im- 
plicit confidence which some had argued ought to be 
placed in ministers. It was owing entirely to this panic 
that Mr. Wyndham now prevailed with himself to sup- 
port the minister because he had a bad opinion of him. It 
was owing to this panic that a noble and learned lord 
(Loughborough) had given his disinterested support to 
government ; and it was owing to this panic that he ac- 
cepted the seals of an administration he had uniformly 
reprobated. But it was all owing to this panic that 
a right honorable gentleman (Mr. Burke) had lost his fine 
taste, and descended to the most ridiculous pantomime 
tricks, and contemptible juggling— such as to carry knives 
and daggers to assist him in efforts of description." 



In 1832, during the administration of Pres- 
ident Jackson, the Congress of the United 
States passed a bill to re-charter the United 
States Bank, which had been originally- 
chartered during the administration of Pres- 
ident Madison. 

President Jackson vetoed the bill to re- 
charter, and in his veto message indulged in 
some remarks to which Mr. Clay, then a 
member of the United States Senate took 
exception, and to which he replied from his 
place in the Senate with much warmth of 
thought and energy of expression. In the 
course of his speech addressing the presi- 
dent of the Senate, he uttered the following, 



148 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

which is a very striking example of the 
figure under consideration: 

"Mr. President : There are some parts of this message 
that ought to excite alarm ; and that especially in which 
the President announces that each public officer may in- 
terpret the Constitution as he pleases. His language is, 
' Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Con- 
stitution swears that he will support it as he understands 
it, and not as it is understood by others.' 

"Now, Mr. President, I conceive, with great deference, 
that the President has mistaken the purport of the oath to 
support the Constitution of the United States. No one 
swears to support it as he understands it, but to support 
it simply as it is in truth. All men are bound to obey the 
laws, of which the Constitution is supreme ; but must they 
obey them as they are, or as they understand them f If the 
obligation of obedience is limited and controlled by the 
measure of information: in other words, if the party is 
bound to obey the Constitution only as he understands it, 
what would be the consequence? The judge of an in- 
ferior court would disobey the mandate of a superior tri- 
bunal, because it was not in conformity to the Constitu- 
tion as he understands it; a custom-house officer would 
disobey a circular from the Treasury department, because 
contrary to the Constitution as he understands it; an 
American minister would disregard an instruction from 
the President communicated through the department of 
State, because not agreeable to the Constitution as he un- 
derstands it; and a subordinate officer in the army or 
navy, would violate the orders of his superior, because 
they were not in accordance with the Constitution as he 
understands it. There would be general disorder and con- 
fusion throughout every branch of administration, from 
the highest to the lowest officers— universal nullification. 
* * * * The President independent both of Con- 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 149 

gress and the Supreme Court! Only bound to execute 
the laws of the one and the decisions of the other, as far 
as they conform to the Constitution of the United States, 
as far as he understands it. Then it should be the duty 
of every President, on his installation into office, to care- 
fully examine all the acts in the Statute book, approved by 
his predecessors, and mark out those which he was re- 
solved not to execute, and to which he meant to apply 
this new species of veto, because they were repugnant to 
the Constitution as he understands it. And after the ex- 
piration of every term of the Supreme Court, he should 
send for the record of its decisions, and discriminate be- 
tween those which he would, and those which he would 
not execute, because they were or were not agreeable to 
the Constitution as He understands it." 



15. Irony. 

Irony is expressing ourselves contrary to 
our thoughts, not with a view to deceive, 
but to add force to our remarks. 

Examples. 

Thus we can reprove one for his negli- 
gence by saying: 
" You have taken great care, indeed ! " 

The prophet Elijah adopted this figure 
when he challenged the priests of Baal to a 
proof of their deity. 

" He mocked them and said, 'cry aloud, for he is a god; 



150 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a 
journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be waked.' " 

" They boast, they came but to improve our state, en- 
large our thoughts, and free us from the yoke of error ! 
Yes, they will give enlightened freedom to our mind, who 
are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride. 
They offer us their protection. Yes, such protection as 
vultures give to lambs, covering and devouring them !" 

" Your consul is merciful ; for this all thanks. He dare 
not touch a hair of Cataline." 

m Such a virtuous and humane prince as Henry the 8th 
of England!" 

"Orleans. I know him to be valiant. 

Constable. I was told that by one that knows him bet- 
ter than you. 

Orleans. What 's he ? 

Constable. Marry, he told me so himself, and he said he 
cafd not who knew it." 

" Oh, admirable laws of Venice ! 
Which would admit the wife, in the hope 
That she might testify against the husband. 
What glory to the chaste Venetian dames ! " 



P. Clodius was the descendant of a long 
line of illustrious Roman ancestors. He 
was a patrician by birth, and possessed a 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 151 

versatile genius which he perverted to the 
vilest purposes, courting the lowest dregs of 
society and leading them into violent ex- 
cesses. He was killed in a personal conflict 
with Milo, and while all good citizens felt 
that the public morals were benefited by 
his death, yet such was the clamour of his 
adherents and followers, that the Senate was 
compelled to put Milo on trial for the hom- 
icide. Milo was defended by Cicero who had 
despised and hated Clodius in his life time, 
and who in the course of his speech for Milo, 
reflected on the memory of his dead enemy 
in the following ironical terms: 

"But it is weak in one to presume to compare Drusus, 
Africanus, Pompey, or myself, with Clodius. Their lives 
could be dispensed with ; but as to the death of P. Clodius 
no one can bear it with any degree of patience. The Sen- 
ate mourns ; the knights grieve ; the whole state is broken 
down as if with age; the municipalities are in mourning; 
the colonies are bowed down ; the very fields even regret 
so beneticient, so useful, so kind hearted a citizen ! " 



Augustus in reply to a challenge sent him 
by Mark Antony to fight him in single com- 
bat: 

"Tell Antony there are many other ways for him to die, 
than by my sword." 



152 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Junius to Sir Wm. Draper: 

"An academical education has given you an unlimited 
command over the most beautiful figures of speech. 
Masks, hatchets, racks, and vipers, dance through your 
letters in the mazes of metaphorical confusion. These are 
the gloomy companions of a disturbed imagination; the 
melancholy madness of poetry without the inspiration. 

" I will not contend with you in point of composition ; 
you are a scholar, Sir William, and if I am truly informed, 
you write Latin with almost as much purity as England." 

16. Climax. 

Climax in rhetoric signifies "a sentence, 
or series of sentences in which the success- 
ive members or sentences rise in force, im- 
portance, or dignity, to the close of the sen- 
tence or series." 

Examples. 

Erskine in his defense of Home Tooke, 
thus: 

" There still remains that which is even paramount to 
the law— that great tribunal which the wisdom of our 
ancestors raised in this country for the support of the 
people's rights— that tribunal which has made the law— 
that tribunal which has given me you to look at— that 
tribunal which is surrounded with an hedge as it were 
set about it— that tribunal w T hich from age to age has 
been fighting for the liberties of the people, and without 
the aid of which it would have been in vain for me to 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 153 

stand up before you, or to think of looking around for 

assistance." 

Cicero in one of his speeches against Yer- 
res, thus: 

"It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in bonds— it is the 
height of guilt to scourge him — little less than parricide to 
put him to death ; what name, then, shall I give the act 
of crucifying him ? " 

"And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, 
virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, tem- 
perance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, 
godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to 
brotherly kindness, charity." 2 Peter, Ch. 1, vs. 5, 6, 7. 

Sir George McKenzie, a noted Scotch law- 
yer, engaged in the prosecution of a woman 
charged with murdering her own child, in 
address to the jury, thus: 

"Gentlemen: If one man had anyhow slain another; 
if an adversary had killed his opposer; or a woman occa- 
sioned the death of her enemy; even these criminals 
would have been capitally punished by the Cornelian law ; 
but, if this guiltless infant, who could make no enemy, 
had been murdered by its own nurse, what punishments 
would not then the mother have demanded ? With what 
cries and exclamations would she have stunned your i 
What shall we say then when a woman, guilty of homi- 
cide, a mother, of the murder of her innocent child, hath 
comprised all these misdeeds in one single crime V a crime 



154 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

in its own nature detestable ; in a woman prodigious ; in 
a mother incredible!" 

The book of Ruth furnishes the following 
very sentimental and elegantly expressed 
climax: 

"And Ruth said, ' Entreat me not to leave thee, or to 
return from following after thee ; for whither thou goest, 
I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge ; thy peo- 
ple shall be my people, and thy God my God ; where thou 
diest, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do 
so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and 
me.'" 

"When we practice good actions awhile they become 
easy ; and when they are easy we begin to take pleasure 
in them ; and when they please us we do them frequently ; 
and, by frequency of acts, they grow into a habit." Tillot- 
son. 

"Wouldst thou divert thyself from melancholy? 
Wouldst thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly ? 
Wouldst thou read riddles and their explanation ? 
Or else be drowned in thy contemplation ? 
Dost thou love picking meat ? Or wouldst thou see, 
A man i ' the clouds, and hear him speak to thee ? 
Wouldst thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep? 
Or wouldst thou in a moment laugh and weep ? 
Wouldst thou lose thyself and catch no harm, 
And find thyself again without a charm ? 
Wouldst read thyself, and read thou knowest not what^ 
And yet know whether thou art blest or not, 
By reading the same lines ? O then come hither ! 
And lay my book, thy head, and heart together." 

Banyan's Apology for his Pilgrim's Progress. 



FIGURES OF SPEECH. 155 

What rhetoricians of the present day term 
"climax," Quintillian termed "gradation," 
which indicates in literature, a form of 
speech or composition, "in which the ex- 
pression which ends one member of the pe- 
riod begins the second, and so on until the 
period is finished." The following are ex- 
amples quoted from Quintillian: 

1. "From Jove, as they relate sprung Tantalus, 

From Tantalus sprung Pelops, and from Pelops 
Came Atreus, who is father of our race." 

2. "Exertion gained merit to Africanus, merit glory 
and glory rivals." 

3. "Trials for extortion have not, therefore, ceased, 
more than those for treason ; nor those for treason, more 
than those under the Plantian law ; nor those under the 
Plantian law, more than those for bribery ; nor those for 
bribery, more than those under any law." 



Ante-climax is the reverse of climax or 
gradation, and signifies a sentence in which 
its members descend or fall in dignity and 
importance to the close of the series. 



Examples. 

He is a wise man; wise in small things; wise in hi9 
own conceit in all things. 



156 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

He is distinguished as a military man, having risen to 
the rank of a 3d corporal in the army of the Potomac. 

"She taught the child to read, and taught so well, 
That she herself, by teaching, learned to spell." 

"And thou, Dalhousie, thou great god of war, 
Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar." 

"Some have at first for wit the poet pass'd, 
Turn'd critic next, and prov'd plain fool at last" 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 157 



CHAPTER IV. 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS, 

CONCERNING SPEECH DELIVERY, NATURAL AND ARTI- 
FICIAL LANGUAGE, AND THE NECESSITY OF CLOSE 
APPLICATION TO STUDY, AND TO CONCENTRATION OF 
THOUGHT. 

" The varying face should every passion show, 
And words of sorrow wear the look of wo ; 
Let it in joy assume a vivid air, 
Fierce, when in rage ; in seriousness, severe ; 
For nature to each change of fortune forms 
The secret soul, and all its passions warms : 
Transports to rage, dilates the heart with mirth, 
Wrings the sad soul, and bends it down to earth. 
* * * * * * * * 

"With them who laugh our social joy appears ; 

With them who mourn we sympathize in tears ; 

If you would have me weep, begin the strain, 

Then shall I feel your sorrows, feel your pain ; 

But if your heroes are not w r hat they say, 

I sleep or laugh the lifeless scene away." 

Horace. 

—"The grand debate, 

The popular harangue, the tart reply, 

The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit, 

And the loud laugh— 1 long to know them all." 

(Jowper. 



L58 rhetoric as an art of persuasion. 

" There 's a charm in deliv'ry, a magical art, 
That thrills, like a kiss, from the lip to the heart ; 
'Tis the glance— the expression— the well chosen word, 
By whose magic the depths of the spirit are stirr'd— 
The smile— the mute gesture— the soul stirring pause— 
The eye's sweet expression, that melts while it awes— 
The lip's soft persuasion— its musical tone : 
Oh! such were the charms of that eloquent one." 

Mrs. A. B. Welby. 



"When he speaks, 
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, 
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, 
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences." 

Shakespeare. 

" He ceased ; the solemn silence now was broke, 
Which reigned triumphant while the hero spoke ; 
And then was heard, amid the general pause, 
One simultaneous burst of loud applause." 

/. T. Watson. 

"What shall be said of the attendants that follow the 
young orator from the bar, and watch his motions to his 
own house? With what importance does he appear to 
the multitude ! in the courts of judicature with what ven- 
eration. When he rises to speak, the audience is hushed 
in mute attention ; every eye is fixed on him alone ; the 
crowd presses around him ; he is master of their passions ; 
they are swayed, impelled, directed, as he thinks proper. 
These are the fruits of eloquence well known to all. 

" When the orator upon some great occasion, comes with 
a well digested speech, conscious of his matter, and ani- 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 159 

mated by his subject, his breast expands, and heaves with 
emotions not felt before. 

"As to myself, if I may allude to my own feelings, the 
day on which I put on the manly gown, and even the days 
that followed, when as a new man at Rome, I rose in suc- 
cession to the offices of quaestor, tribune, and praetor ; those 
days, 1 say, did not awaken in my breast such exalted 
raptures as when in the course of my profession I was 
called forth to defend the accused; to argue a question of 
law before the centumviri, or in the presence of the prince 
to plead for his freedmen. Upon those occasions I tow- 
ered above all places of profit and all preferment ; I looked 
down on the dignity of tribune, pnetor and consul ; I felt 
within myself, what neither the favor of the great, nor 
the wills and codicils of the rich, can give, a vigor of 
mind, an inward energy, that springs from no external 
cause, but is altogether your own." 

From the dialogue of Tacitus on oratory. 



WHAT LANGUAGE IS. 

Language is either natural or artificial. 
Natural language is simply the expression 
of uneducated nature, and is manifested 
by different tones of voice; by gesticulation; 
and by countenance or facial expression. 

By different tones of voice; as to cry or 
utter plaintive sounds when hurt or op- 
pressed with sorrow; to laugh aloud when 
pleased; to utter guttural sounds when dis- 
pleased. 

By gesticulation or movements of the 



160 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

hands and arms and other parts of the body; 
as to beckon with the hand and arm for a per- 
son to come to you; to present your open 
hand with a push towards a person when you 
want him to go away from you, or when you 
wish to decline intercourse with him; to 
stamp with the foot, or to raise the arm in 
a threatening manner when in anger; to 
solicit a gift by extending the open hand; 
to embrace a person w T ith both hands and 
arms to show your affection for him. 

By countenance or facial expression: as to 
smile when gratified; to frown when dis- 
pleased, and so on. 

It is by natural language the brute crea- 
tion communicate with each other, and ex- 
press their feelings, affections, desires, and 
animosities. 

Savages meeting who do not understand 
each other's artificial language, will, by mo- 
tions of arms and body, tones of voice, and 
expressions of countenance, make known to 
each other with considerable clearness of com- 
prehension their respective wants, thoughts, 
and notions. 

Artificial language consists of words 
adopted by men for their convenience, to 
represent more perfectly their ideas, feelings, 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 161 

sentiments, and desires; and in some lan- 
guages words are more elegant and expres 
sive than in others, accordingly as men are 
more or less advanced in civilization, and 
bestow more or less time upon the study 
and adornments of speech. 

Numerous words of different formations, 
especially in the English language, often ex- 
press the same idea or sentiment, or sub- 
stantially the same; but they are not each 
always equally appropriate in the delivery 
of a speech. Euphony, or agreeableness in 
sound, is often of material importance in 
the selection of a word, or words, to create 
a more striking or lasting impression on the 
mind of the hearer. 

As a general rule, short words, or words of 
one and two syllables, are more natural, and 
expressive than longer ones. Thus where 
can be found anything more neat, concise 
and elegant in speech, or more sublime in 
thought, than the following from the book 
of Job, which though it contains eighty-four 
words, has but twelve words beyond one 
syllable in length, and they of only two syl- 
lables? to- wit: 

"In thoughts bom the visions of the night, when deep 
Bleep falleth upon men, fear came upon me, and trembling, 

11 



162 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed 
before my face ; the hair of my flesh stood up ; it stood 
still ; but I could not discern the form thereof ; an image 
was before mine eyes; there was silence; and I heard a 
voice, saying— shall mortal man be more just than God F 

That sublime expression, "God said let 
there be light and there was light," is com- 
posed entirely of monosyllables. 

But sometimes longer words are more ap- 
propriate, especially in the close of a sen- 
tence, because of sound or euphony. 

Next in importance to the study of words 
is the study of the structure and conforma- 
tion of sentences. 

It is said that short sentences best suit 
"gay and easy subjects "; and the following 
from Pope is a pertinent example of that 
species of composition: 

" I writ because it amused me. I corrected because it 
was as pleasant to me to correct as to write. I published 
because I was told it might please such as it was a credit 
to please." 

While gay and easy subjects may be best 
expressed in short sentences, it is equally 
true that the most expressive thoughts are 
often expressed in "brevity of speech." 

Sometimes the proper explication of a 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 163 

subject requires a sentence of considerable 
length. 

" When Ajax strives some rock's huge weight to throw, 
The line too labors and the words move slow." 



Long and short sentences alternating each 
other give variety to expression, and are 
usually more agreeable in sound than when 
short sentences are run together, or when 
long sentences follow each other in quick 
succession. 

But there is no certain rule or rules for 
the structure of sentences in all regards, and 
good natural judgment aided by literary cul- 
ture is the only true criterion of the forma- 
tion of a sentence, either as regards the 
words to be used, or its length or brevity. 

The student of oratory should carefully 
familiarize himself with the most expressive 
words of his language, and in his speeches 
apply them in such relation as will give 
them their best efficiency, whether in the 
narrative, didactic, or interrogative style. 

"Words are the soul's amba. sudors, which go 
Abroad upon her errands to and fro ; 
They are the sole expounders of the mind, 
And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind." 



164 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Much is to be gained in the art of public 
speaking, by a careful study of the speeches 
of the great masters of oratory, and by 
listening to the speeches of those, who by 
the common sentiment of community, have 
become eminent in their vocation as speak- 
ers. But no one should in his speech at- 
tempt to imitate the style of speech of any 
other person. Imitators will always be sec- 
ondary personages. No one can give free 
and full vent to his thoughts and feelings, 
while he is at the same time seeking to 
clothe them in another person's apparel of 
expression. 

Study the speeches of others for informa- 
tion; but let your style of expression be your 
own, and be as natural in the delivery of 
your speech as possible, because to be natu- 
ral is to be graceful and pleasing to the 
hearers. 

"First follow Nature, and your judgment frame 
By her just standard, which is still the same ; 
Unerring nature still divinely bright, 
One clear, unchanged, and universal light, 
Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, 
At once the source, and end, and test of art. 
Art from that fund each just supply provides, 
Works without show, and without pomp presides." 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 165 

A graceful use of tones and modulations 
of voice, countenance or facial expression, 
and gesticulation, add much to the force and 
beauty of a speech, because they indicate 
the inner workings of the mind, though 
they are often resorted to when not felt, es- 
pecially in stage or theatrical acting. They 
are very susceptible of improvement, as 
much so perhaps as anything else that re- 
lates to the person, or to human conduct or 
actions generally. Some persons are natu- 
rally graceful in countenance, tones, and 
gesticulations; but none are so graceful in 
these matters, but that they may be the sub- 
ject of improvement; and. the student of 
oratory will be careful to avail himself of 
the instruction of a teacher of elocution, if 
he can possibly have the opportunity to 
do so. 

Cicero in his treatise "De Oratore," re- 
marks: 

"Words affect none but him who understands them; 
and sentiments, though they may be pointed, yet often 
escape a discernment that is not quick. But an action 
which is expressive of the passions of the mind is a lan- 
guage understood by all the world; for the same express- 
ions have the same effects through all; all mankind know 
them in others by the same characters in which he ex- 
presses them himself." 



166 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

Demosthenes amongst the Grecians, and 
Koscius amongst the Romans, were noted 
for their proficiency in the practice of natu- 
ral language in connection with their 
speeches. Demosthenes when asked what 
he considered the most important point in 
oratory, replied, "action"; and when further 
asked what he considered the next most im- 
portant point in oratory, again, replied, "ac- 
tion." He, of course, intended by what he 
said simply to show the advantage of proper 
action; to-wit: gesture, tones, modulations 
of voice, and so on, in the delivery of a 
speech, and not to disparage argument, nor 
its dress in appropriate language. 

Cicero said of Roscius that it was a ques- 
tion amongst learned Romans, whether he 
by words, or Roscius by pantomime in act- 
ing in the theatre, could better express a 
thought, sentiment, or desire. 

Besides naturalness in the use of action, 
the speaker should studiously seek natural- 
ness in the selection and use of words, tak- 
ing and using such only as are perspicuous 
and unambiguous. Quintillian says, "we 
must study not only that every hearer may 
understand us, but that it shall be impossi- 
ble for him not to understand us." 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 1G7 

Young speakers, especially if fertile in 
genius and imagination, are very apt to fall 
into a tawdry and bombastic style of speech; 
and to such I would recommend a criticism 
from the pen of that eminent judge, and be- 
fore he went on the bench, able advocate, 
Hon. J. M. Love, in some lines he addressed 
to me on the general subject of forensic 
speaking, and which I take the privilege to 
quote in part as follows: 

"It is the inevitable tendency of every young orator 
gifted by nature with a vivid imagination to mistake 
the pomp and glitter of words for true eloquence, instead 
of that simplicity and naturalness of thought and style 
which have characterized the efforts of all truly great 
speakers. 

u The richer the soil the greater necessity for stern cul- 
ture, to remove the wild exuberance of weeds and flowers, 
and prepare the ground for the real harvest that is to 
come. 

" Mr. Webster has stated that when he first came to the 
bar, his style was florid and somewhat bombastic, and that 
he corrected this tendency, and reformed his taste, in con- 
sequence of noticing the extraordinary effects produced 
by the plain and unadorned simplicity of that great law- 
yer witli whom he had to contend, the celebrated Jere- 
miah Mason. 

" I once heard a very eminent lawyer and speaker Bay, 
that in his young days he was attracted by the gorgeous- 
ness and splendor which he found in the orations of 
Charles Phillips, and that when in later years, lie had 
emancipated himself from that false taste, he could but 



168 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

smile at his own youthful folly, and feel a certain degree 
of contempt for the idol of his uninstructed mind." 

The capacity of the speaker to persuade, 
also much depends on his reputation for 
good principles and morals, since it is an in- 
stinct of the good to be influenced more by the 
just than the unjust; and such is the natural 
charm of a good life, that even the worst of 
men will often admire and respect that vir- 
tue in others, which they, themselves, do not 
possess. 

Virgil (iEn. 1, 152), expresses himself, 
thus: 

" As when sedition fires the ignoble crowd, 
And the wild rabble storms and thirsts for blood ; 
Of stones and brands a mingled tempest flies, 
With all the sudden arms that rage supplies : 
If some grave sire appears amidst the strife 
In morals strict and innocence of life, 

. All stand attentive, while the sage controls 
Their wrath, and calms the tempest of their souls." 

Demosthenes in his oration on the crown, 
says: 

" Experience hath convinced me that what is called the 
power of eloquence depends for the most part on the 
hearers, and that the characters of public speakers are 
determined by that degree of favor and attention which 
you vouchsafe to each." 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 169 

And ill another part of the same speech: 

"But it Is not language, * * it is not the tone of 
voice which reflects honor on a public speaker ; but such 
a conformity with his fellow citizens in sentiment and 
interest, that both his enemies and friends are the same 
with those of his country." 

But however ardent may be the desire of 
the student for oratorical success, however 
fluent he may be in speech, quick in wit, 
brilliant in imagination, and strong in 
thought by natural endowment, yet he will 
never reach the highest round in the ladder 
of fame, without industry, good morals, and 
constant, persistent, application. I know a 
man on whom nature showered the most 
munificent gifts of oratory; I mean natural 
capacity for speech-making. Nature gave 
him a bright imagination, quick and cutting 
wit, and a large amount of emotional and 
reasoning power. And his father impressed 
with the future promise of his son, gave him 
the advantage of a classical education. He 
selected the law for his profession, and was 
just starting on a successful career as a law- 
yer and advocate, when lured by the excite- 
ment of politics he stepped aside to engage 
in public discussions of a partisan character. 



170 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

His speeches were greatly applauded, and he 
was soon known and hailed as the " boy or- 
ator/' He gained a state reputation as a 
political speaker, and his services in that 
line, while yet the beard was ungrown on 
his chin, procured his appointment to a judi- 
cial office in the state of his nativity, and 
which he held for eight years with honor to 
himself and credit to the public. 

But in the meantime there came a change 
in politics, and preferring principle to suc- 
cess, he united with the weaker side and 
lost his official position. He then went back 
to the law, and occasionally he would de- 
liver admirable speeches; enough to show 
what nature had done for him. But he had 
while in office lost his application for study, 
and disinclined to undergo the fatigues of 
the profession, after a few years effort, with- 
drew entirely from the bar; withdrew from 
a forum where, if he had confined himself 
and given proper application to it, he would 
probably have arisen to the pinnacle of legal 
and oratorical fame. If he attained such 
high position as a speaker without applica- 
tion, what renown would he have reached 
with it? 

Let young lawyers profit by his example, 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 171 

and know that law is a jealous mistress, and 
accepts of no divided homage. 

The cotemporaries of Demosthenes who 
envied his fame and superiority, used to 
urge against him that his speeches smelt of 
the midnight lamp. True they did. But 
his fame and speeches remain a monument 
of honor and glory to his memory, while the 
names of his rivals are lost mostly to his- 
tory, except so far as they shine by reflection 
from him, or as he has casually named them 
in his orations. 

No common genius however great his in- 
dustry and application, can hope to attain 
to the high oratorical capacity of the great 
Athenian. But when we reflect upon the 
severe studies which Demosthenes under- 
went even at the tender age of eighteen 
years; shutting himself up three months in 
a cave, to be undisturbed in his practice of 
speaking and declamation; may we not 
fairly claim that while nature did much for 
him, yet study and art gave the finishing 
touch to his greatness as an orator. 

Cicero would usually when time allowed, 
write out and commit his speeches to mem- 
ory before he delivered them, even in law 
cases, which not one modern lawyer in a 



172 RHETORIC AS AN ART OP PERSUASION. 

thousand thinks of doing or ever does; and 
he would not engage in a law trial until 
after he had carefully examined the wit- 
nesses of his client, and sought every honor- 
able opportunity to learn in advance the ev- 
idence of the opposite party, that his client 
should suffer no detriment by his negligence; 
a thing in which many lawyers of modern 
times are too often derelict. 

Quintillian in his treatise on the educa- 
tion of an orator, says: 

"We must frequently watch whole nights; we must 
imbibe the smoke of the lamp by which we study, and 
remain long during the day-time in garments moistened 
with perspiration." 

Alexander Hamilton said: 

"Men give me some credit for genius. All the genius I 
have lies just in this : when I have a subject I study it 
profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it 
in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it, 
and the effort I make is the fruit of labor and thought." 

Daniel Webster whe"n a member of the 
United States Senate replied to a gentleman 
who pressed him to speak on a subject of 
great importance, as follows: 

"The subject, sir, interests me deeply, but I have no time. 
There" (pointing to his table) " is a pile of letters to which 



GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 173 

I must reply before the close of the session, and T have no 
time to master the subject so as to do it justice." " But " 
(said the gentleman) "a few words from you, Mr. Webster 
would do much to awaken attention to it." Mr. Webster 
replied ; " If there be so much weight in my words as you 
represent, it is because I do not allow myself to speak on 
any subject until my mind is imbued with it." 

Pindar (the Theban bard), in one of his 
odes, says; 

" What bliss so 'er to man is known, 
Laborious efforts gain alone." 

Ovid of Latium fame, thus: 

" Thistles and weeds are all we can expect 
From the best soil impoverish'd by neglect ; 
******* 

What is it tunes the most melodius lays ? 
'Tis emulation and the thirst of praise." 

Socrates in one of his discourses related 
by Xenophon; thus: 

" He who is perfectly master of his Subject will always 
be heard with the greatest applause. The Athenian youth 
bear away the prize in every contention from those sent 
by any other republic. Even a chorus of music going 
from hence to Delos exceeds beyond all comparison what- 
ever appears from any other place. Yet the Athenians 
have not naturally voices more sweet, or bodies more 
strong, than those of other nations; but they are more 
ambitious of glory which always impels to generous deeds 
and noble undertakings." 



174 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

St. Gregory Nazianzen, said: 

" Nothing that is great is exempt from trial and anxi- 
ety ; because it is nature that what is small and common 
can easily be obtained ; but that which is lofty and sub- 
lime is only obtained at the price of much labor and diffi- 
culty." 



Plutarch relates of Demosthenes, that in 
his youth he had a weakness and stammer- 
ing in his voice and a want of breath, which 
caused such a distraction in his discourse, 
that it was difficult for the audience to un- 
derstand him; and that he cured the defect 
of stammering by practicing to speak with 
pebbles in his mouth, and that he strength- 
ened his voice by running or walking up hill, 
and pronouncing some passage in an ora- 
tion or poem, during the difficulty of breath 
which that caused. 

Plutarch further relates of Demosthenes, 
that he kept a looking-glass in his house be- 
fore which he used to declaim and adjust all 
his motions, and that he could hardly ever 
be induced to speak in public on any subject, 
without first preparing his speech and com- 
mitting it to memory. 

Alas, how many speakers are there of the 
present day, who presume to speak in pub- 






GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 175 

lie without duo preparation! and how many- 
are there who after preparation have the 
foolish vanity to desire that their hearers 
should believe they speak without premedi- 
tation! to desire that the audience should 
impute their utterances rather to genius ex- 
clusively, than to both genius and study! 



176 RHETOEIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 



CHAPTER y 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

To excel in any art or profession requires 
not only a thorough knowledge of its ele- 
ments and principles, but also exercise and 
experience in its application. Knowledge 
isolated may bo a source of pleasure to its 
possessor, but unless united with practical 
results, it will be valueless to the world at 
large. The great man in any art or profes- 
sion, is he who both knows and executes. A 
knowledge, however thorough, of the art of 
medicine, does not presuppose practical ca- 
pacity. A knowledge, however perfect, of the 
theory and art of war, does not necessarily 
give the capacity to direct armed squadrons 
on the field of battle. The most accurate 
learning concerning agriculture, will not 
make a farmer without practice and experi- 
ence. The deepest study of natural elements 
will not enable its possessor to reduce com- 
pounds to simples, or to show the wonders 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 177 

of chemistry without long experience at the 
laboratory. And so of oratory; the most 
perfect knowledge of words; the most inti- 
mate acquaintance with the rules of gram- 
mar, dialectics, attitude, gesticulation; 
learning however diversified and extended, 
will not make an orator unless practice is 
united with rules and theory. 

Before the invention of the art of print- 
ing, the chief mode of instruction, and giv- 
ing information to the people was by public 
speaking. There were books, but they were 
in writing, and so costly that but few could 
buy them; and fewer knew how to read 
them when bought. 

The orator was then one of the leaders of 
society, and often in competition for public 
favors and honors carried the palm of suc- 
cess against the victor of many battle-fields. 
It is not strange then that the orators of 
antiquity underwent such severe studies to 
obtain proficiency in their art, when sue 
gave them such influence, and encircled 
their brows with so many public honors. 
The printing press and the consequent gen- 
eral diffusion of knowledge, have shorn ora- 
tory of some of its ancient prerogatives and 

glory. But whoever will notice the eager- 
12 



178 EHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

ness with which the public crowd to hear a 
speaker who has attained fame in his call- 
ing, whether in the pupit, at the bar, in the 
lecture hall, or in a public assembly of any- 
kind, must realize the fact, that oratory still 
exists as one of the most exciting and pow- 
erful influences of social life. 

Knowledge teaches how, but practice 
makes perfect; and the student of oratory 
must understand that if he would obtain 
eminence in his profession, he must not only 
make himself acquainted with the precepts 
and rules of public speaking as taught by 
the best instructors, on the subject, but he 
must also unite practice with study, and 
should often practice in private before he 
speaks in public. 

After Cicero had attained the position in 
his twenty-sixth year of age, of being con- 
sidered the equal in oratory of Hortensius 
who had stood for many years at the head 
of the Roman bar as an advocate, he felt 
that he was still the subject of improvement 
in speaking, and conceived the grand idea of 
withdrawing from business for a period, and 
going to Rhodes to become a pupil in the 
school of oratory established there two hun- 
dred years before, by ^Eschines, the famous 



i 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 179 

rival of Demosthenes on the contest con- 
cerning the "crown." He remained in 
that school engaged in close study and 
practice of speaking for two years, declaim- 
ing before his teachers two hours every day; 
and when he returned to Home and again 
entered the forum, he stood the acknowl- 
edged master of oratory in the Roman world. 

Great indeed were the natural mental en- 
dowments of Cicero; but it was not nature 
alone, but nature polished and refined by 
education, that enabled his fame as an ora- 
tor to survive the marble monuments of im- 
perial Rome, and to outlive the language 
which he adorned by his eloquence. 

I do not believe that the human race has 
degenerated in its gifts of oratory. And on 
the contrary it is my belief based on many 
years of advantageous observation, that the 
American mind is full of oratorical talent, 
which needs but the spur of ambition, guided 
by proper study and instruction, to enable it 
to rival the most famous days of Greece and 
Rome in oratory. 

Henry of Virginia, whom Byron styled, 

"The forest born Demosthenes, 
Whose thunder shook the Philip of the St 



180 RHETORIC AS AN ART OF PERSUASION. 

and Clay of Kentucky, have obtained a world 
wide reputation as impassioned speakers; 
and in depth and strength of argument who 
has excelled Webster of Massachusetts?! 
Yet neither studied oratory as an art; and 
the result is, that their speeches seldom 
show such graces of expression, and refine- 
ment of language, as distinguish the orators 
of antiquity; and as regards attitude, ges- 
ticulation, and delivery, while Clay with a 
natural genius peculiar to himself, was easy 
and graceful, Webster was stiff and formal, 
and Henry was awkward. 

If the speeches of" Red Jacket and other 
Indian chiefs, which are reported in the 
"American Speaker," a work published at 
Philadelphia in 1814, were in fact delivered 
by them, it would seem that oratory is in- 
digenous to American soil. For what is there 
in history which excels them in impassioned 
eloquence? And strange as it may appear, 
the speeches of Red Jacket (untutored sav- 
age as he was) are each noted for contain- 
ing in neat and expressive words, the formal 
parts of an oration; to-wit: exordium, state- 
ment of the case, argument, and peroration. 

The human mind is a mystery which in 
its several phases and powers, none but God, 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 181 

its author, can fully comprehend; and the 
human body with its several senses of hear- 
ing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling; 
with its multiplicity of bones, muscles, ten- 
dons, ligaments, nerves, and other organs, 
exceeds in curious and well-ordered work- 
manship, all thoughts and wisdom of man. 
It is through this instrument (the body) that 
the mind, spirit, or soul, call the thinking 
principle and power what we may, manifests 
itself, at least whilst we exist in earth life. 
And as a musician cannot bring forth sweet 
and harmonious tones from a broken or de- 
fective instrument, so neither can the mind 
manifestations, be developed to the best ad- 
vantage through a defective or diseased 
physical organism, especially if it relates to 
the brain or nerve system. Hence the stu- 
dent of oratory should nurse his physical 
system with the same regard he bestows 
upon his mental culture. He should exer- 
cise much in the open air and sunshine, re- 
tire in seasonable hours to bed, that by sweet 
and refreshing sleep, and plenty of it, the 
nerve system may be recuperated for the 
studies and labors of the ensuing day: be 
temperate in his diet and drink, and espe- 
cially as regards intoxicating drink, for els a 



182 EHET0EIC AS AN AET OF PEESUASION. 

gifted one of old said, "Wine is a mocker, 
strong drink is raging, and whosoever is de- 
ceived thereby is not wise." 

Franklin, the wisest of Americans, advises 
as follows: 

" Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. 
Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober 
and temperate, and you will be healthy." 

Said Seneca: 

" It is my custom every night so soon as the candle is 
out, to run over all the words and actions of the past day ; 
and I let nothing escape me ; for why should I fear the 
sight of my own errors, when I can admonish and forgive 
myself. What infirmity have I mastered to-day ? What 
passion opposed ? What temptation resisted ? What vir- 
tue acquired ? * * * I was a little hot in such 
a dispute ; my opinion might have been as well spared, for 
it gave offense and did no good at all. The thing was 
true, but all truths are not to be spoken at all times. I 
would I had held my tongue, for there is no contending 
either with fools or superiors. I have done ill, but I shall 
do so no more." 



CONCLUSION. 

Eloquence is usually denned to be, " The 
expression of strong emotion in appropriate 
language, with fluency, animation, and suit- 
able action"; and it is here deemed proper 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 1S3 

to conclude this essay with a panegyric upon 
eloquence, from that most eloquent of all 
orators, Marcus Tullus Cicero: 

"How charming is eloquence! How divine that 
mistress of the universe as you call it! It 
teaches us what we are ignorant of, and makes 
us capable of teaching what we have learned. By 
this we exhort others; by this we comfort the 
afflicted; by this we deliver the affrighted from 
their fears; by this we moderate excessive joy ; by 
this we assuage the passions of lust and anger. 
This it is which bound men by the chains of right 
and law; formed the bonds of civil society, and 
made us quit a wild and savage state" 



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